Does Alcohol Weaken the Immune System? Yes, If You Drink Too Much

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. Moreover, immune systems of several nonhuman primate species are similar to those of humans and these animals are susceptible to several clinically important pathogens making them a valuable model to study the impact of ethanol on immunity (Hein and Griebel 2003). Costly requirements such as dedicated facilities to house the animals, experienced personnel to perform specialized procedures, and compliance with high standards of care must be considered. Not only does the immune system mediate alcohol-related injury and illness, but a growing body of literature also indicates that immune signaling in the brain may contribute to alcohol use disorder. The article by Crews, Sarkar, and colleagues presents evidence that alcohol results in neuroimmune activation. This may increase alcohol consumption and risky decisionmaking and decrease behavioral flexibility, thereby promoting and sustaining high levels of drinking.

This article explores how alcohol causes inflammation and what you can do to reduce its adverse effects. If you use it regularly, you may have the same breathing problems you can get from nicotine cigarettes. That means coughing up colored mucus called phlegm and a higher chance of lung infections. They include drugs to treat allergies, arthritis, lupus, IBS, and organ transplant.

Effects on CD4+ (Helper) T-Cells

The World Health Organization (WHO) links about 8.1 percent of all tuberculosis cases worldwide to alcohol consumption. The connection between alcohol consumption and your digestive system might not seem immediately clear. People who binge drink or drink heavily may notice more health effects sooner, but alcohol also poses some risks for people who drink in moderation. If you do choose to imbibe, it’s best to avoid binge drinking and stick to CDC Guidelines — consuming no more than one drink per day for women or up to two drinks per day for men. Over the long term, excess drinking can cause chronic systemic inflammation and impaired ability to defend against infections, Koob says. There’s been an uptick in non-alcoholic drink options, as more and more companies are creating alternatives.

Alcohol use can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, cognitive decline, liver disease, mental health conditions, and more. And high fat diets over time can upset the balance of bacteria in your gut that can help immune response. Look for low-fat dairy with no added sugar, along with lean protein like seafood, turkey, and chicken, or lean cuts of beef with any visible fat cut off. Also, being obese seems to make you more likely to get the flu and other infections, like pneumonia. These may include infections after surgery, traumatic injury, or burns; accelerated progression of HIV disease; adult respiratory distress syndrome and other opportunistic lung infections; and infection with hepatitis C virus, cirrhosis, or liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). Both the innate and the adaptive immune response are critical for effective host defense to infectious challenges.

Is It Safe to Detox From Alcohol at Home?

For instance, IL-1 induces HPA axis activation and glucocorticoid release that suppresses the immune system (Sapolsky, Rivier et al. 1987). Cytokines are also proposed to cross the blood-brain barrier and produce sickness behavior (Watkins, Maier et al. 1995), which is comorbid with AUD (Dantzer, Bluthe et al. 1998). Ethanol administration (4g/kg) in male rats increased IL-6 but decreased TNF-α expression in PVN, an effect that was blunted or reversed after long-term ethanol self-administration (Doremus-Fitzwater, Buck et al. 2014). Cytokines can also modulate important behavioral functions including learning and memory (Hao, Jing et al. 2014) possibly due to their role in neuroplasticity (Sheridan, Wdowicz et al. 2014). Many gaps remain in our understanding of the stress response, its physiological basis in the HPA, axis and its role in modulating the effects of ethanol on host immunity. Decreased IL-2 and CCL5 levels provide insight into possible mechanisms of impaired T cell recruitment and proliferation.

• Drinking alcohol on a regular basis can also lead to dependence, which means your body and brain have grown used to alcohol’s effects.
• Infection with viral hepatitis accelerates the progression of ALD, and end-stage liver disease from viral hepatitis, together with ALD, is the main reason for liver transplantations in the United States.
• The relative increase in B-1b cells also may lead to autoantibody production, especially of the IgM and IgA classes (which is discussed below).
• Similarly, consumption of 10% (w/v) ethanol in tap water ad libitum for 2 days in mice resulted in decreased bone marrow DC generation, decreased expression of CD80 and CD86, impaired induction of T cell proliferation, and a decrease in IL-12 production (Lau, Abe et al. 2006).
• If you drink, you’ve probably had some experience with alcohol’s effects, from the warm buzz that kicks in quickly to the not-so-pleasant wine headache, or the hangover that shows up the next morning.
• These microorganisms help your gut function normally by processing food into nutrients.

The adaptive immune system can be subdivided into cell-mediated immunity, carried out by T cells, and humoral immunity, carried out by B cells. T cells expressing the CD4 T cell co-receptor are known as T helper cells and play a critical role in the activation and maturation of monocytes, cytotoxic T cells and B cells. T cells expressing the CD8 T cell co-receptor are known as cytotoxic T cells and eliminate host cells infected with intracellular pathogens as well as tumor cells. B cells mature into plasma does alcohol suppress immune system 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 addition to pneumonia, alcohol consumption has been linked to pulmonary diseases, including tuberculosis, respiratory syncytial virus, and ARDS.

Short-term effects of alcohol

In addition, in vivo consumption of moderate amounts enhances phagocytosis and reduces inflammatory cytokine production whereas chronic consumption of large doses inhibits phagocytosis and production of growth factors. Finally, primary alveolar macrophages isolated from female mice cultured in 25–100mM ethanol for 24 hours prior to addition of apoptotic cells showed a dose-dependent decrease in efferocytosis, the process of clearing dying cells that is critical to resolution of the inflammatory process after infection. This defect was rescued when cultures were treated with the Rho kinase inhibitor, Y27632 indicative that ethanol reduced efferocytosis through the induction of Rho kinase activity in a dose-dependent manner (Boe, Richens et al. 2010). In addition, female mice that consumed 20% (w/v) ethanol for 8 weeks showed a reduction in LPS activated efferocytosis (Boe, Richens et al. 2010). In contrast to the effects of high ethanol doses, human monocytes isolated after 30 days of moderate beer consumption (330mL for women and 660mL for men) exhibited increased phagocytic, oxidative burst, and intracellular bactericidal activity when incubated with fluorescence-labeled E.

Similarly, more work is needed to determine whether alcohol inhibits specific aspects of B-cell differentiation, such as immunoglobulin class switching and cell survival. In addition to the Th1 response, alcohol appears to interfere with the Th17 response. For example, following an infectious challenge, acute alcohol can suppress alveolar macrophage expression of IL-23, which helps activate naïve T-cells to differentiate into Th17 cells (Happel et al. 2006).

Alcohol distracts the body from other functions

However, alcoholic patients frequently have abnormally low levels of complement in the blood. In addition, animal studies have indicated that acute alcohol intoxication can decrease complement activation in response to tissue injury resulting from disruptions in blood supply (i.e., ischemic injury). In contrast, chronic alcohol intake can activate the complement response (Roychowdhury et al. 2009), both by inducing the biochemical pathways that lead to activation of the complement cascade and by suppressing processes to terminate or regulate the cascade (Bykov et al. 2007). Microglia express PRRs, produce cytokines, and modulate neuroinflammatory reactions in brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases (Block, Zecca et al. 2007). In Sprague Dawley rats exposed to 25% (w/v) ethanol via intragastric gavage every 8 hours for 4 days, increased activation and proliferation of microglia as evidenced by morphological changes and BrdU incorporation were observed in the hippocampus (McClain, Morris et al. 2011).

• Healthy habits, such as being active, eating a balanced diet, and getting enough sleep, can keep your immune system strong.
• Alcohol can have a range of harmful effects on the body, which can diminish a person’s immune response and put them more at risk for COVID-19.
• The researchers found that before the monkeys had free access to alcohol, they all demonstrated comparable responses to the vaccinations.
• 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.