How Does Alcohol Consumption Affect the Immune System?

B cells mature into plasma cells that produce antibodies, also known as immunoglobulins (Ig), to eliminate extracellular microorganisms and prevent the spread of infection. The adaptive immune response can be distinguished from innate immunity by the capability of generating immunological memory, or protective immunity against recurring disease caused by the same pathogen (Janeway 2008). In summary, alcohol enhances the development of iNKT cells, which promotes a Th1-dominant immune response.

How Does Alcohol Consumption Affect the Immune System?

Ethanol modulates the function of monocytes, immature innate immune cells that circulate in the blood until recruited into tissues, in a dose and time dependent manner. Monocytes express Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4, which is the PRR responsible for recognizing the endotoxin LPS on the surface of Gram negative bacteria. Upon LPS binding, monocytes become activated, mature into macrophages and migrate into tissues where does alcohol suppress immune system they respond to infection by secreting various cytokines, recruiting additional leukocytes via production of chemokines and presenting pathogen-derived peptides to T cells to activate them. Often, investigators stimulate with LPS after pre-exposure to ethanol to mimic inflammation observed in trauma patients with high blood alcohol levels and explore the alterations in immunity that lead to frequent subsequent infections among this group. In addition, production of IL-10 in response to TLR2/6 stimulation was increased (Pruett, Zheng et al. 2004). This same treatment also inhibited the in vitro production of IL-6 and IL-12 by peritoneal macrophages harvested 2 hours following injection of LPS (Pruett, Fan et al. 2005).

• These micronutrients have been shown to play an important role in immune system homeostasis and response to infection (Mora, Iwata et al. 2008).
• Chronic alcohol consumption has been demonstrated to decrease the abundance and function of NK cells in the periphery (65).
• «Anyone with chronic liver conditions should be avoiding alcohol, for example, people with hepatitis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, liver inflammation, and any condition that could affect liver function would be a reason to avoid alcohol,» notes Favini.
• Though there’s still limited data on the link between alcohol and COVID-19, past evidence shows alcohol consumption can worsen the outcomes from other respiratory illnesses by damaging the lungs and gut, and impairing the cells responsible for immune function.

Short-term effects of alcohol on the immune system

Some systems, like the nervous system may be altered in subtle ways that alter behavior (75). In contrast, systems which directly encounter pathogens from the environment can become more susceptible to infection and injury (76, 77). Multiple researchers have reported that alcohol use can deplete critical cell subpopulations, by impairing cell maturation and chemotaxis. For example, a depletion of NK cells (cytotoxic, IFN-γ secreting) would be expected to impair immune responses reliant on cytotoxicity; however, NK depletion would also be expected to impact tissue IFN-γ https://ecosoberhouse.com/ levels and thereby attenuate responses by the adaptive and innate arms of the immune system.

Innate lymphoid cells

RNA interference, facilitated by exosome delivery, mitigates the inflammatory effects of exosomes from ethanol-treated hepatocytes, underscoring the role of exosomes in mediating communication between hepatocytes and monocytes and the miRNA-122-induced monocyte reprogramming 73. Mice depleted of NK cells by anti-AsGM1 antibody treatment displayed increased hepatic triglyceride levels and decreased serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels following chronic ethanol exposure in mice, suggesting that NK cells mediate, in part, liver steatosis and injury. These data are also consistent with research that suggests that NK activation is beneficial in the short run, by increasing host defense against fibrosis and hepatic steatosis through selective cytotoxic activity. Cui et al. argued that the hepato-specific effects of NK cells were partially mediated by IFN-γ.

• Consequently, deficiency in vitamin A results in the impairment of mucosal responses (Mora, Iwata et al. 2008).
• Nonhuman primates, on the other hand, voluntarily consume different amounts of alcohol and allow us to conduct studies in an outbred species that shares significant physiological and genetic homology with humans while maintaining rigorous control over diet and other environmental cues.
• Simar Bajaj is an award-winning science writer and Marshall Scholar studying epidemiology.
• The effect of beer on the immune system may not be as significant as the effect of stronger alcoholic beverages, but it’s important to remember that beer and wine can cause adverse health effects and even suppress the body’s immune response in excessive amounts.

Briefly, the random-effect IVW pools estimate from each IV and provide causal estimation, assuming that all IVs are valid or are invalid in a way that the overall pleiotropy is balanced to be zero (Burgess et al., 2015). When Alcoholics Anonymous there is considerable imprecision in the estimates, causal effect estimates from the IVW are overprecise, whereas the likelihood method gives appropriately sized confidence intervals (Burgess et al., 2013). In addition, we performed MR–Egger regression to test for bias due to directional pleiotropy, where the average of direct effects of the tested genetic variants on outcome is non-zero (Bowden et al., 2015).

Modulation of Immunity by Nutritional Change in AUD

The key, according to Seija, is not to do Dry January just to go binge drinking on February 1 but to perhaps find a new drinking pattern that feels comfortable and sustainable. But the key difference between drinking alcohol and eating processed meat or smoking is awareness; less than half of Americans recognize alcohol’s connection with cancer, according to Jiyoung Ahn, a cancer molecular epidemiologist at NYU Langone Health. She says that alcohol itself is not terribly toxic, but the liver breaks it down into acetaldehyde, which damages DNA and plays a key role in cancer development. The most obvious is the amount of alcohol consumed; a heavy drinker will be exposed to more acetaldehyde than a light drinker, leading to more damage. But even two people who drink the same amount may be affected differently, depending on their genes and other risk factors. The body fights off this infection by flooding the lungs with fluid containing immune cells.

While it is impossible to fully prevent getting an infection, taking steps to improve your immune health will give your body the best chance of quickly fighting potential infections. A specific type of pneumonia, called aspiration pneumonia, occurs when someone accidentally breathes in food or fluid that contains bacteria. Alcohol makes people vomit, and it is very easy to accidentally inhale some of this vomit. When combined with a suppressed immune system, this can be the perfect storm for a bad case of pneumonia.

Binge drinking makes us more accident-prone, increasing the risk of falling over, banging into things and—when behind the wheel—of getting into a wreck. Indeed, about one third of trauma victims come into the emergency room with traces of alcohol in their system. As long as you’re aware of these risks and the guidelines that suggest limiting your intake to just one or two drinks per day, it’s probably okay to have that beer at the ballpark or a glass of wine with dinner, according to Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. Ultimately, people must make their own decisions based on their personal risk factors and tolerances, ideally with the help of a trusted health professional.