Prevent alcohol poisoning at the end of the year

In recent years, the use of alcohol of unknown origin, fake alcohol, or homemade alcohol that has not been tested for safety has become a worrying issue.

The consequences of consuming this type of alcohol not only affect personal health but also cause serious consequences for society.

Increased risk of alcohol poisoning at the end of the year

Hanoi authorities recently inspected a restaurant in Chuong My district and discovered more than 500 liters of handmade colored wine of unknown origin. The owner of the establishment said that the wine was ordered from people who brewed and soaked it themselves. Knowing that selling wine of unknown origin would result in fines, the owner of the establishment still continued to do business for profit.

The problem of fake and smuggled alcohol has never cooled down, and there have been many heartbreaking incidents when victims used these types of alcohol.

Bach Mai Hospital’s Poison Control Center has received hundreds of cases of alcohol poisoning with dozens of deaths. Most of them were caused by the abuse of alcohol made by hand or soaked in alcohol of unknown origin.

For example, this patient was admitted to the hospital in a coma, on a ventilator, with severe metabolic disorders. The methanol concentration in the blood was up to 25 mg/dL.

Warning about the risk of food poisoning at the end of the year, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center (Bach Mai Hospital) informed that recently the facility regularly receives patients poisoned by drinking alcohol without labels, without origin, without clear ingredients, floating on the market. These types of alcohol are mixed with industrial alcohol by the manufacturer to make a profit.

In recent years, the use of alcohol of unknown origin, fake alcohol, or homemade alcohol that has not been tested for safety has become a worrying issue.

According to the Director of the Poison Control Center, the ethanol component in alcohol directly causes hypoglycemia. Low blood sugar will cause widespread damage to both sides of the brain.

If this condition is treated slowly, brain damage will spread further, causing seizures, lethargy, coma, and even death. In particular, thin, exhausted people and young people (under 30 years old) are susceptible to alcohol-induced hypoglycemia.

It is known that recently, the Poison Control Center has discovered many alcohol disinfectant products with very high methanol concentrations, accounting for 70-90%. Many subjects have bought this alcohol to mix into wine for sale.

According to doctors at the Department of Neurosurgery, Bach Mai Hospital, in addition to the risks of alcohol containing industrial alcohol, drinking too much alcohol also causes serious harm.

Many studies have shown that excessive alcohol consumption causes brain atrophy and neuronal degeneration. The volume of white matter in the hippocampus and gray matter in the cerebellum are significantly reduced in people who abuse alcohol.

Experts warn that alcohol of unknown origin often contains toxic ingredients such as methanol - an industrial alcohol that is extremely dangerous to humans.

When methanol is ingested, consumers may experience symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, vomiting, and in severe cases, can lead to blindness or even death.

Not only that, uninspected homemade wine also has the risk of being contaminated with other toxins such as acetaldehyde, furfural, and chemicals produced during the fermentation process. These substances can cause serious damage to the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system, making users susceptible to chronic diseases.

According to the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health), the cause of alcohol poisoning is alcohol abuse, drinking alcohol beyond the body's acceptable level, using alcohol that does not ensure food safety such as drinking alcohol mixed with industrial alcohol methanol or ethylene glycol; drinking alcohol soaked with herbs (such as leaves, roots, seeds), or soaked with animals...

Tightly control the circulation of alcohol of unknown origin on the market

To ensure consumer health and limit the use of handmade wine of unknown origin, the leader of the Hanoi Department of Health said that from now until the end of the year, the district will strengthen inspection and control of production and business activities of products displayed and circulated in the area.

Thereby, early detection, thorough tracing of the origin of violations; resolute handling of violations, especially acts of counterfeiting, imitation, use of prohibited materials in alcohol production and trading establishments and publicizing violations according to the provisions of law.

At the same time, strengthen communication; request units and people not to use alcohol without stamps or without guaranteed origin according to regulations.

In addition, Hanoi continues to provide information and propaganda on the media to raise awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol; the responsibility to ensure food safety in alcohol production and trading; strictly prohibiting the production of alcohol using prohibited materials, trading in alcohol of unknown origin, and unsafe alcohol.

In addition, the Hanoi Department of Health in coordination with the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade continues to investigate and prevent the use and circulation of the above-mentioned alcohol products in the area.

Along with that, the Health sector coordinates with the Industry and Trade sector and local authorities to strengthen inspection, examination and supervision of food safety for alcohol production and trading establishments, focusing on small-scale alcohol production and trading establishments, especially craft alcohol brewing establishments;

Timely prevent unsafely produced and mixed alcohol, alcohol of unknown origin, and unlabeled alcohol that may affect consumers' health from being circulated on the market.

At the same time, strengthen information, communication, and guidance for people to raise awareness and responsibility for ensuring food safety in alcohol production and trading, not to abuse alcohol, and to ensure safety when choosing and using alcohol.

People absolutely do not use strange animals or plants of unknown species or origin to soak in alcohol, do not drink alcohol of unknown origin or without labels sold on the market.

In terms of identification, it is very difficult to distinguish between ethanol (regular alcohol) and methanol. Methanol is very similar to regular ethanol, even sweeter and easier to drink.

When first drinking, the patient also feels like being drunk, so it is easy to be confused. However, about 1-2 days after drinking, the patient will have blurred vision, drowsiness, rapid breathing and deep breathing similar to difficulty breathing due to metabolic acidosis (due to too much formic acid being converted from methanol), convulsions, and coma. When arriving at the hospital, most of these cases have brain damage, blindness, and low blood pressure, and are in critical condition.

Recommendations on the consequences of alcohol abuse, MSc. Le Thi Phuong Thao, Department of Addiction Treatment, Institute of Mental Health (Bach Mai Hospital) advises people not to drink alcohol more than 5 days/week. For men, they should not drink more than 1 - 1.5 cans of beer/day; no more than 2 glasses of wine/day, 2 glasses of alcohol (40 degrees)/day.

According to Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, people should choose products with clear origins, registered by companies, guaranteed from the production and distribution stages. The purchase and sale have product codes, invoices, traceability of the place of production and distributor.

During the year-end, drink alcohol at the lowest risk level in one drink, drink slowly, combine with food, and alternate with water.

In particular, according to experts, relatives need to pay attention to monitor the drunk person. If the drunk person is still aware, they should eat and drink foods containing sugar and starch such as rice, corn, potatoes, cassava, milk, sweetened fruit juice, soup, thin porridge... to have energy, otherwise it is easy to get hypoglycemia. At the same time, the family needs to pay attention to observe serious signs in relatives to take them to the emergency room promptly.

For example, if methanol is consumed, the patient will experience headaches, drowsiness, loss of consciousness, loss of vision, and coma. These symptoms usually do not occur immediately during the drinking session, and most patients fall into critical condition after 1 day. If not hospitalized and treated promptly, the risk of death is very high, and those who survive may face neurological and visual sequelae.

There are severe cases, even if they are saved, treatment is very difficult. In addition to mechanical ventilation, patients must undergo continuous blood filtration along with solutions to filter out toxins, the cost of treatment can cost hundreds of millions of dong.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ngan-chan-ngo-doc-ruou-dip-cuoi-nam-d229658.html