Millions of people in the United States drink alcohol regularly, enjoy it in social settings, and use it as a way to unwind at the end of the day. In most cases, drinking here or there is no problem. However, excessive alcohol consumption can damage your health in several ways.
One significant health effect of alcohol is that it contributes to inflammation in your body. Although not all inflammation is harmful, alcohol-induced inflammation can damage your cells and tissues. This can lead to serious health conditions, including liver failure and heart disease.
When enjoyed in small amounts, alcohol, such as beer, wine, and liquor, is generally not harmful to your health. Some studies show that low to moderate alcohol intake can even reduce the risk of heart disease. Low to moderate alcohol intake means one drink or less per day for women and two drinks or less per day for men.
However, many people consume more than the recommended limit. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the most common type of substance use disorder in the United States. AUD is defined as a loss of control over your ability to drink in moderation despite the effects on your health, social life, and other consequences.
Consuming too much alcohol can negatively affect your entire body and lead to several health problems and possibly death. AUD is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and Europe.
While moderate drinking is considered safe for most people, drinking too much can cause an inflammatory environment in your body.
When consumed in large amounts, alcohol can damage your cells, tissues and organs. When your body breaks down alcohol, the process produces compounds called reactive oxygen species (ROS), sometimes called free radicals.
When ROS levels become higher than your body’s antioxidant levels, it leads to a condition known as oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is an imbalance between ROS and antioxidants. It can cause inflammation that leads to tissue and cell damage.
Uncontrolled inflammation from alcohol use is the primary cause of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), which is liver damage caused by alcohol consumption.
Inflammation in the body caused by alcohol
Besides the liver, alcohol use can increase inflammation in other parts of your body, including the gut, brain, and heart.
In the gut, alcohol intake promotes dysbiosis, or an imbalance between good and bad bacteria. Harmful bacteria, such as proteobacteria and they threwthey release endotoxins. Endotoxins are toxic substances that cause an inflammatory response in your intestines.
Alcohol intake also leads to increased permeability of the intestinal mucosa. This means that more endotoxins and inflammatory proteins in your gut can pass through the lining of your gut and spread into your bloodstream. This leads to inflammation throughout the body, including the central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord).
Inflammation from chronic alcohol intake can lead to cell damage. This damage can turn normal cells into cancer cells. Long-term excessive alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of several cancers, including liver cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer. For example, heavy alcohol consumption of seven or more drinks per day can increase the risk of developing liver cancer by 87%.
Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of more than 50 diseases, including heart disease and dementia.
Research shows that drinking can worsen inflammatory conditions. Inflammatory health conditions are diseases characterized by inflammation. Examples include gout and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is the term used to describe Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC).
IBD
One recent study found that alcohol consumption was associated with a higher risk of flare-ups in people with IBD and worse IBD-related gastrointestinal symptoms. Alcohol intake leads to negative changes in your gut bacteria and increased intestinal permeability, which worsens IBD symptoms.
gout
Alcohol is also associated with increased activity and disease progression in people with gout, a type of inflammatory arthritis most commonly caused by hyperuricemia — a build-up of uric acid in the blood.
Alcohol contains purines, compounds found naturally in certain foods and drinks such as seafood and alcohol, which your body breaks down into uric acid, which can make gout attacks worse. Research has shown that drinking alcohol causes gout attacks, regardless of the type of alcohol.
Other studies show that drinking alcohol can increase the frequency and severity of gout attacks.
Neurological disorders
Alcohol can also worsen symptoms and increase the risk of inflammation-related brain disorders, such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Although alcohol has not been shown to worsen all health conditions caused by inflammation, if you live with an inflammatory disease, you should talk to your health care provider. They can answer any concerns you have about your alcohol intake and how it affects your symptoms and overall health.
When you cut your finger or get sick, you will experience symptoms of short-term or acute inflammation, such as fever or swelling at the site of the injury. Acute inflammation is not harmful to health and is part of your body’s natural defense against injury and infection.
However, chronic (long-term) inflammation, which is inflammation that lasts for months or years, can harm health and increase the risk of disease. Chronic inflammation can cause a range of symptoms throughout the body.
Here are some signs that you may have high levels of inflammation:
- Body pain, including muscle and joint pain
- Chronic fatigue
- Sleep problems such as insomnia
- Depression, anxiety and mood disorders
- Gastrointestinal symptoms such as acid reflux, constipation and diarrhea
- Weight gain or loss
- Frequent infections
- High levels of inflammatory markers (seen in blood tests)
Many symptoms of chronic inflammation are non-specific and may be caused by another medical condition. If you’re concerned about chronic inflammation, talk to your healthcare provider about getting tested to rule out inflammatory conditions.
Chronic or long-term inflammation can damage your body over time and is associated with an increased risk of many health conditions, including certain cancers and heart disease.
While short-term inflammation can protect your body and help you heal from injuries, chronic inflammation causes cell damage that increases your risk of disease.
This chronic inflammation damages your tissues, which can cause disease. Inflammation is a major driver of health conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Alzheimer’s disease, and IBD.
It is important to note that chronic inflammation itself is not a disease. Rather, it is the process that causes disease.
In addition to contributing to inflammation, drinking too much alcohol can harm your physical and mental health in many other ways.
Heavy drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks each day or 15 or more drinks per week for men and consuming four or more drinks per day or eight or more drinks per week for women. Health problems associated with heavy drinking include:
- Changes in mood and behavior
- Memory loss
- Irregular heartbeat
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- Fatty liver
- Pancreatitis
- Increased risk of pneumonia and other infections
- Increased risk of cancer
Binge drinking and binge drinking, defined as four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men on one occasion, can also lead to alcohol poisoning, injury, increased risk of violence and risky sexual behaviour.
Even small amounts of alcohol can harm the fetus, which is why alcohol should be avoided during pregnancy.
Keeping your alcohol intake low is essential for maintaining health and reducing inflammation. Safe alcohol consumption is two drinks or less per day for men and one drink or less per day for women.
If your current alcohol intake is higher than these recommendations and you are concerned about chronic inflammation or general health, it is best to reduce your alcohol intake.
While enjoying the occasional drink with dinner or out with friends is unlikely to affect your overall health, consuming large amounts of alcohol in one sitting or drinking multiple drinks per day can increase your risk of several health conditions, including inflammatory diseases.
If you are having trouble cutting down on alcohol, you may need medical help. This is especially important if you drink large amounts of alcohol for a long time and may experience withdrawal symptoms.
If you can’t stop drinking or limit your alcohol intake on your own, talk to a trusted doctor. They can give you recommendations for alcohol treatment depending on the severity of your alcohol use and your overall health.
In addition to reducing alcohol intake, there are other evidence-based ways to reduce inflammation. This includes:
- Follow a nutritious diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in inflammatory foods such as fried foods and added sugar
- Limit stress when possible
- Maintain a healthy body weight
- Plenty of regular exercise
- Avoid smoking
It’s important to talk to your healthcare provider if you think you have high levels of chronic inflammation. They can test for markers of inflammation, recommend appropriate treatments and lifestyle changes, and address potential underlying causes of your symptoms.
Although a common part of many diets, alcohol contributes to inflammation in your body.
Although low to moderate alcohol use is unlikely to harm health or increase chronic inflammation, heavy alcohol use can cause inflammation and worsen symptoms of inflammatory conditions such as IBD and gout.
To improve overall health and reduce inflammation, limit your alcohol consumption to one drink or less per day for women and two drinks or less per day for men.