A drink of beverage alcohol presents the organism with an important physiological task – the alcohol must be metabolized, and the resulting calories prepared for use. Alcohol is highly caloric (7kcal/g) and heavy drinkers can supply much of their energy needs just from alcohol, although the displacement in the diet of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins by alcohol can create another host of problems. For the discussion below, it will be helpful to keep the magnitude of this metabolic task in mind: this is not a trivial amount of material to be dealt with. Issues related to alcohol metabolism can have profound effects on multiple physiological systems, as will be discussed below.
