Eventually, you can develop permanent and irreversible scarring in your liver, which is called cirrhosis. Steatotic liver disease develops in about 90% of people who drink more than 1.5 to 2 ounces of alcohol per day. Heavy drinking can also lead to a host of health concerns, like brain damage, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver and even certain kinds of cancer. 2The different immunoglobulin classes are involved in different aspects of the immune response. However, all immunoglobulins produced by one B-cell and its daughter cells specifically recognize the same antigen.

“Those at increased risk should cut down or abstain from alcohol because every little thing an individual can do to improve the health and reduce risk is worth it at this point, even if the evidence is not entirely clear,” Mroszczyk-McDonald said. When someone is exposed to a virus, the body mounts an immune response to attack and kill the foreign pathogen. Soon after, the World Health Organization (WHO) also suggested that people cut back on drinking, since alcohol can increase the risk of experiencing complications from COVID-19. “Drinking alcohol in large quantities even just for a short period of time — like binge drinking — can be bad for your health and your immune system,” says Favini. Healthy habits, such as being active, eating a balanced diet, and getting enough sleep, can keep your immune system strong.

Your liver detoxifies and removes alcohol from your blood through a process known as oxidation. When your liver finishes that process, alcohol gets turned into water and carbon dioxide. Dr. Sengupta shares some of the not-so-obvious effects that alcohol has on your body.

For those who have a risk factor for COVID-19, like heart disease or diabetes, he recommends drinking even less. According to the Cleveland Clinic, once you take a sip of alcohol, your body prioritizes breaking down alcohol over several other bodily functions. The body doesn’t have a way to store alcohol like it does with carbohydrates and fats, so it has to immediately send it to the liver, where it’s metabolized. Similarly, alcohol can trigger inflammation in the gut and destroy the microorganisms that live in the intestine and maintain immune system health.

Not only will drinking alcohol reduce your immune system’s strength, but alcohol also has a dehydrating effect. Moreover, some people shouldn’t drink at all, according to the Dietary Guidelines. This includes people who are pregnant, have alcohol abuse disorder, or are taking medications that interact with alcohol. The immune system is how your body defends itself from infections — like harmful bacteria and viruses — and prevents you from getting sick. But just like a muscle, the immune system can become weak and fail to protect you against infection as well.

Alcohol is well known for promoting systemic inflammation and aggravating multiple chronic health conditions. Thus, alcohol may also be expected to serve as a stages of sobriety alcohol risk factor in autoimmune diseases. However, emerging data from human and animal studies suggest that alcohol may in fact be protective in autoimmune diseases. These studies point toward alcohol’s complex dose-dependent relationship in autoimmune diseases as well as potential modulation by duration and type of alcohol consumption, cultural background and sex.

1. In this review, we will explore alcohol’s pro- and anti-inflammatory properties in human and animal autoimmune diseases, including autoimmune diabetes, thyroid disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis.
2. With continued alcohol use, steatotic liver disease can lead to liver fibrosis.
3. For humans, a standard alcoholic drink is defined as approximately 14 g of alcohol.22 According to the CDC, light drinking is considered to be three or fewer alcoholic drinks per week.

Alcohol and the Innate Immune Response

The innate immune response orchestrated by all these components provides the first line of defense against invading pathogens and plays a key role in the activation and orientation of adaptive immunity, as well as in the maintenance of tissue integrity and repair. Only if a pathogen can evade the different components of this response (i.e., structural barriers as well as cell-mediated and humoral responses) does the infection become established and an adaptive immune response ensues. In addition to laboratory studies confirming the impact of alcohol consumption on the innate immune system, several studies have looked at how heavy drinking can alter plasma cytokine levels. To this end, one study analyzed IL-10, IL-6, IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) levels in 25 non-treating seeking heavy drinkers after they had consumed an alcoholic drink. The researchers reported significant reductions in the TNF-α levels three and six hours after the alcohol consumption.

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. The ability of alcohol to alter both innate and adaptive immune defenses inevitably impacts how the immune system of even a moderate alcohol drinker can respond to infections. In fact, alcohol use has been shown to increase the mary jane drug meaning susceptibility of drinkers to both bacterial and viral infections, as well as advance the progression of several chronic viral infections, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C. Shortly after consumption, alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream from the stomach and small intestine, and subsequently diffuses to different body organs. LPS is a strong TLR agonist and leads to the activation and maturation of macrophages and other innate immune cells.21 Thus, the combination of increased gut permeability, LPS translocation and alcohol-mediated immune activation can predispose to a pro-inflammatory state (Figure 1).

Effects on Antigen Presentation

These molecules help recruit and activate additional PMNs as well as macrophages to the site of an injury or infection. The body constantly is exposed to pathogens that penetrate either our external surface (i.e., the skin), through wounds or burns, or the internal surfaces (i.e., epithelia) lining the respiratory and gastrointestinal (GI) tracts. The first line of defense is called the innate immunity;1 it exists from birth, before the body is even exposed to a pathogen. It is an immediate and rapid response that is activated by any pathogen it encounters (i.e., is nonspecific); in addition, it plays a key role in the activation of the second level of the immune response, termed the adaptive or acquired immunity. This part of the immune response is specific to one particular pathogen and also creates an “immune memory” that allows the body to respond even faster and more effectively if a second infection with the same pathogen occurs. Both innate and adaptive immunity rely on a multitude of different cells and molecules.

Cancer risk

“Some people think of the effects of alcohol as only something to be worried about if you’re living with alcohol use disorder, which was formerly called alcoholism,” Dr. Sengupta says. Alcohol feeding suppresses the production and secretion of certain acute-phase proteins (i.e., type II cell surfactant). This effect ideas for substance abuse groups may contribute to lung injury in response to inflammation (Holguin et al. 1998).

Alcohol’s pro- and anti-inflammatory effects on the immune system

In this review, we will explore alcohol’s pro- and anti-inflammatory properties in human and animal autoimmune diseases, including autoimmune diabetes, thyroid disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis. We will also discuss potential mechanisms of alcohol’s anti-inflammatory effects mediated by the gut microbiome. Alcohol is a widely available dietary factor in our society and its pro-inflammatory effects and end-organ damage are well documented at high doses.7 However, alcohol’s role in inflammation and autoimmunity at moderate doses has been relatively less well understood. These disruptions to the composition of the gut microbiota and to gut barrier function have important implications beyond the intestinal system. For example, Nagy discusses how the leakage of bacterial products from the gut activate the innate immune system in the liver, triggering inflammation that underlies ALD, a condition that affects more than 2 million Americans and which eventually may lead to liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.

In interpreting human and animal alcohol studies, it is important to closely consider the administered quantity of alcohol. Patterns of human drinking are typically divided into light, moderate and heavy consumption. For humans, a standard alcoholic drink is defined as approximately 14 g of alcohol.22 According to the CDC, light drinking is considered to be three or fewer alcoholic drinks per week. Moderate drinking is defined as one alcoholic drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men, though variations across studies exist for this definition. Heavy alcohol consumption is defined as having four or more drinks/day for females and five or more drinks/day for males.22 Accurate human consumption can be challenging to quantify due to participant subjective memory and accurate reporting.

Alcohol’s Burden on Immunity Following Burn, Hemorrhagic Shock, or Traumatic Brain Injury

Granulocytes are white blood cells (i.e., leukocytes) that derive their name from the large granules that are visible when the cells are stained for microscopic analysis. They further are characterized by oddly shaped nuclei with multiple lobes and therefore also are called polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs). These cells act as phagocytes—that is, they engulf pathogens and ingest them in a process called phagocytosis. In addition, they can excrete toxic substances from their granules that can kill pathogens. PMNs produce a host of bacteria-killing (i.e., bactericidal) molecules (e.g., myeloperoxidase, defensins, azurophil-derived bactericidal factors, bactericidal permeability-increasing protein, cationic proteins, gelatinase, and lactoferrin). In addition, PMNs participate in the regulation of the local defense response by releasing signaling molecules called cytokines and chemokines (e.g., tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α; interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6, and IL-8; and macrophage inflammatory protein [MIP]-2).

As we said before, your immune system protects your body from unwelcome invaders and certain types of cancers. Examples include certain cancers, as well as pneumonia and other respiratory problems. It can also lead to complications after surgery and poor recovery from injuries such as broken bones. In this interview, we explore global and local efforts to combat viral hepatitis with Lindsey Hiebert, Deputy Director of the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE), and James Amugsi, a Mandela Washington Fellow and Physician Assistant at Sandema Hospital in Ghana. Together, they provide valuable insights into the challenges, successes, and the importance of partnerships in the fight against hepatitis. And prolonged alcohol use can lead to mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.

Thus, both types of immunity are mediated partly by the actions of specific immune cells (i.e., include a cell-mediated response) and partly by the actions of molecules secreted by various immune cells (i.e., include a humoral response). Few studies have investigated the effects of alcohol abuse on complement activation and its relationship with the incidence and severity of infection; instead, the focus of studies on alcohol-induced alterations in complement has been on liver injury (Pritchard et al. 2008). However, alcoholic patients frequently have abnormally low levels of complement in the blood.