How Does Alcohol Consumption Affect the Immune System?
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Alcohol immunosuppression can cause someone to catch a simple cold easier than other people or develop a more serious condition such as cancer or septicemia. Alcohol consumption does not have to be chronic to have negative health consequences. In fact, research shows that acute binge drinking also affects the immune system. There is evidence in a number of physiological systems that binge alcohol intake complicates recovery from physical trauma (see the article by Hammer and colleagues). Molina and colleagues review research showing that alcohol impairs recovery from three types of physical trauma—burn, hemorrhagic shock, and traumatic brain injury—by affecting immune homeostasis. Their article also highlights how the combined effect of alcohol and injury causes greater disruption to immune function than either challenge alone.
In fact, the National Institute on Alcohol and Abuse and Alcoholism explains that one episode of drinking can cause problems. An individual who drinks small amounts of alcohol will have a suppressed immunity for a short amount of time. As soon as you drink a sip of alcohol, your body begins to prioritize breaking down alcohol. This means that its functioning shifts to focus on breaking down the alcohol https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and takes its energy from other critical functions such as fighting diseases. While your body is metabolizing alcohol, it has a lower ability to fight off infections and viruses, making you more vulnerable to developing a cold or more serious condition. Fatty liver, early stage alcoholic liver disease, develops in about 90% of people who drink more than one and a half to two ounces of alcohol per day.
How alcohol affects the innate immune system
One night of binge drinking can jumble the electrical signals that keep your heart’s rhythm steady. If you do it for years, you can make those heart rhythm changes permanent and cause what’s called arrhythmia. Over time, it causes heart muscles to droop and stretch, like an old rubber band.
Why do I get colds after drinking alcohol?
Heavy drinking
A reduction in killer T cells leaves people more prone to infections. But it's possible other factors sometimes present in people who chronically abuse alcohol, such as poor diet, can also have that effect. Drinking can influence the inflammatory response too.
Moderate or infrequent drinking does not appear to pose the same risks to your overall health as excessive drinking, which is defined as 14 or more drinks per week. When it comes to immunity, drinking any alcohol puts you at higher risk of getting sick. Drinking on even one occasion can have negative effects on your immunity – for example, by interfering with healthy sleep, which is known to protect against infection. Cytokines are a group of chemical messengers that affect the behavior of cells. In particular, the cytokine interleukin-21 promotes the inflammation of cells.
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This alcoholic liver disease typically starts as fatty liver disease and progresses to alcoholic hepatitis and, eventually, alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Alcohol’s widespread effects on immune function also are underscored in the article by Gauthier, which examines how in utero alcohol exposure interferes with the developing immune system in the fetus. This exposure increases a newborn’s risk of infection and disease; additional evidence suggests that alcohol’s deleterious effects on immune development last into adulthood.
A weaker immune system also increases the chance that you will experience more side effects from your HIV medications. Indeed, white blood cells are important parts of a person’s immune system. They are created in an individual’s bone marrow and move throughout the bloodstream in search of invaders that cause illness. The respiratory tract contains cilia, which are microscopic projections that move the mucus toward the throat. This movement prevents bacteria, particles, and fluid from entering the lungs.
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Fully avoiding the negative health consequences of alcohol can be achieved by simply not drinking anymore. This can be difficult as alcohol has such heavy presence in social settings and as a coping mechanism to deal with stressful situations. If you have an average of one drink a day, you aren’t at as large of a risk of immunosuppression. It’s often thought that damage from alcohol abuse only occurs once you’ve done so consistently for months or years. The jarring truth is that just one night of drinking can cause your immune system to be suppressed for up to 24 hours.
These facets of your body are typically the first to be affected by the short-term consequences of drinking alcohol. Alcohol has also been found to damage the white blood cells themselves. When an individual drinks, his or her body’s main focus is on processing the alcohol. As a result, the body is depleted of energy to fight anything else, especially an illness. Women are typically more vulnerable to inflammatory and autoimmune diseases than men, and men have a higher risk of infections than women.
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To this end, heavy drinkers have been shown to exhibit an increase in both IgA and IgM levels when compared to both moderate and light male drinkers. Although the innate immune response is immediate, it is not specific to any given pathogen. Some of the most alcohol weakens immune system notable contributors to the innate immune response include natural killer (NK) cells, neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs). However, there is limited scientific evidence to support applying beer or other forms of ethanol to hair.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers “moderate drinking” to consist of one standard drink per day for women or two standard drinks per day for men. A “standard drink” is defined as 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, or a 1.5 ounce shot of liquor. If you or a loved one has a drinking problem, it is vital to seek help. At New Directions for Women, we recognize the connection between alcohol and immune system function. Our trained staff provides support and therapies that help patients gain long-term sobriety. Let our team steer you in the right direction of successful recovery.