What alcohol really does to your body

Wondering what toll having more than one drink on Friday night takes? Here's the tally:

What it does to your brain

-- Moderate use (one-half to one drink a night): May protect against arterial aging problems such as stroke and ward off Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

-- Two drinks: Interferes with communication between cells and affects your ability to control behavior (explains where the lampshade ended up) and body functions (explains a few other things).

-- Misuse (more than two drinks on that Friday night): Messes with information processing, ability to learn, problem solving, visual-spatial abilities and other frontal-lobe functions.

What it does to your heart

-- Moderate use (one-half to one drink a night): May reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, particularly in men over 40 and in post-menopausal women.

-- Two drinks: Slows your heart rate and breathing, lowers your blood pressure and disorders the contraction of your heart muscle.

-- Misuse (more than two drinks on that Friday night): May produce irregular heartbeats, increase blood pressure (the next day especially) and raise triglycerides, contributing to coronary heart disease.

What it does to your liver

-- Moderate use (one-half to one drink a night): No known benefits to the liver.

-- Two drinks: Gets broken down until only carbon dioxide and water remain as byproducts. Your liver can metabolize only about one drink per hour; extra alcohol continues to circulate through your body.

-- Misuse (more than two drinks on that Friday night): Impairs the liver's ability to metabolize fats, causing fatty liver and eventually alcoholic hepatitis. This may lead to cirrhosis, a buildup of scar tissue that makes it impossible for your liver to function.

The YOU Docs, Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz, are authors of the best-selling "YOU: The Owner's Manual" and "YOU: On a Diet." To submit questions, go to RealAge.com, the docs' online home. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.