Free Article Review About Korean Drinking Culture And Negative Effects On Our Body Health

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Nowadays, drinking in Korea has become quite popular, especially among youngsters. However, the adaptation of the drinking culture causes various problems. According to a research, frequent alcohol consumption directly leads to obesity and abdominal obesity, which are one of the major health problems in the modern society. Moreover, binge drinking causes stress and anxiety, which can negatively reflect on the general health condition (Ha-Na, K. 2014).
Drinking alcohol also causes some serious problems to our body. One of the major health problems caused by abusive alcohol consumption is cancer. In Korea, cancer is the main cause of death of the population, and Korea ranks on the highest level amongst all other East Asian countries. According to a study, 3% of men die because of cancer, and 2.8% of cancer deaths in Korea are caused by alcohol consumption. Furthermore, 0.5% of women die because of cancer, while drinking alcohol causes 0.1% of deaths. According to the study “in 2003-2005, the average adult per capita consumption of drinking pure alcohol in Korea was estimated to be 14.8 liters per year” (Park, S., 2014). Moreover, the percentage of people who have never consumed alcohol is going down, which means that there are more people who drink alcohol than there were in the past few years. Due to these reasons, number of people who get diagnosed with cancer is increasing in Korea (Park, S., 2014). Naturally, more and more people engage into drinking starting from their teenage years, moved by various reasons – whether those are the desire of one to get enrolled into a close circle of peer communication, in which their peers resort to drinking; using alcohol as an outlet from certain personal issues; giving up to friends’ suggestions, and many others, which are best to be researched and described by the specialists in teenage developmental psychology, sociology and other related sciences. Nonetheless, drinking alcohol is a pressing issue in the nowadays society and, given its potential outcomes, needs to be addressed in order to prevent the demoralization of the society (mainly speaking about the personality defective behavior caused by alcohol abuse and public morale) and various health issues following alcohol abuse.
Another major disease that can be caused by drinking alcohol is hepatitis B virus. It has been issued as a major global health issue. Worldwide, there are more than 2 billion people, who have been infected by HBV (Hepatitis B Virus), and more than 4.5 million of people are infected every year. Moreover, people who have been already infected by HBV have high risk of developing life threatening chronic diseases, such as HCC (Hepato Cellular Carcinoma.) The reason of such occurrence is that drinking alcohol increases the possibility of HBV infection, since alcohol intake helps increase the risk of liver cirrhosis and HCC in HBV carriers. In Korea, the number of HBV-infected people has reduced since the year 1995, when the vaccine first came out. However, Korea is still on high prevalence of HBV infection, because of heavy drinking culture (Park, B., 2014).
Korean drinking culture (and the fact that the tendency of it is gaining popularity) causes these various problems. According to the research, the drinking culture in Korea is defined as follows: “In Korean society, drinking is an important medium of non-verbal communication and a drinking gathering is an opportunity to form and strengthen social bonds” (Ha-Na, K. 2014, P.8). Moreover, this study also states: “binge drinking was more common than non-binge drinking in all socio-demographic factor” (Ha-Na, K. 2014, p.8). Due to this reason, Korea has a high rate of alcohol consumption compared to other developed world countries.

References:

Ha-Na, K., & Sang-Wook, S. (2014). Relationships of both Heavy and Binge Alcohol Drinking with Unhealthy Habits in Korean Adults Based on the KNHANES IV Data. Iranian Journal Of Public Health, 43(5), 579-589.
Park, S., Shin, H., Lee, B., Shin, A., Jung, K., Lee, D., & Weiderpass, E. (2014).Attributable fraction of alcohol consumption on cancer using population-based nationwide cancer incidence and mortality data in the Republic of Korea.BMC Cancer, 14420. doi:10.1186/1471-2407-14-420
Park, B., Jung, K., Oh, C., Choi, K. S., Suh, M., & Jun, J. K. (2014). Factors Associated with Alcohol Consumption in Hepatitis B Carriers: A Nationwide Study in the Republic of Korea. Plos ONE, 9(11), 1-9.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110144