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The effects of alcohol on the digestive system
Whether you drink a lot or just sometimes, here's what you should know about alcohol and digestion.
Picture: iStock
Alcohol can take a toll on our digestive system, influencing the way our body digests and absorbs essential nutrients.
When consumed, alcohol can irritate the lining of the stomach and lead to inflammation, potentially causing discomfort and indigestion.
Moreover, excessive alcohol intake can hinder the absorption of vital nutrients, leading to deficiencies. Over time, these effects can contribute to digestive problems and compromise overall health.
Affinity Health, a leading provider of high-quality health cover, uncovers about how drinking alcohol affects our digestion, harms our stomach and intestines, and the bad results of drinking too much alcohol for a long time.
Alcohol and digestion
Around 20% of alcohol is taken in by the body right from the stomach into the blood, while the other 80% is soaked up by the body from the small intestine.
Alcohol triggers the creation of stomach acid, which helps with digesting food. Having a reasonable amount of alcohol can actually help digestion by boosting stomach acid.
But, drinking too much can cause gastritis, where the stomach lining gets swollen, bleeds, or forms sores.
This can cause anything from slight discomfort to serious belly pain, feeling sick, and throwing up.
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Alcohol and the small intestine
The small intestine, which is the tiny tube-like part of the body that absorbs nutrients, is easily influenced by alcohol.
Alcohol can damage the cells covering the walls of the small intestine, making it harder for the body to take in important stuff like vitamins, minerals, and other nutritious things from food.
Drinking too much alcohol for a long time can also cause a problem called a leaky gut. Alcohol weakens the connections between the cells that make up the walls of the intestine, which can make them more open.
This means harmful things like toxins and bacteria can slip from the intestine into the blood, causing the body to fight back and possibly cause problems like inflammation and other health troubles.
Alcohol and the liver
Consuming too much alcohol can seriously harm the body’s liver. Here are the main methods through which alcohol affects the organ:
Liver inflammation: The liver processes alcohol and creates harmful substances during its breakdown. While the liver aims to break down alcohol, this procedure generates inflammatory elements that can harm liver cells and lead to inflammation.
Fatty liver: One of the initial phases of liver disease caused by alcohol is the accumulation of fat within liver cells, which is termed fatty liver. Consuming too much alcohol disturbs the usual processing of fats in the liver, resulting in the accumulation of fat. If alcohol consumption persists, fatty liver can advance to more serious states.
Alcoholic hepatitis: Long-term and excessive alcohol consumption can trigger alcoholic hepatitis, which is inflammation of the liver. This harms the liver cells and can result in symptoms like yellowing of the skin and eyes (jaundice), stomach pain, queasiness, and tiredness. Alcoholic hepatitis can range from being not very serious to quite severe, and in very extreme situations, it might lead to the liver not working properly (liver failure).
Liver cirrhosis: This is a progressed form of liver illness marked by the growth of scar tissue, which takes the place of normal healthy liver tissue. Prolonged and excessive drinking of alcohol is one of the primary reasons for cirrhosis. As scar tissue builds up, it messes up how the liver works, slows down blood flow, and can ultimately cause the liver to stop working.
Liver cancer: Continual misuse of alcohol raises the likelihood of developing liver cancer, particularly hepatocellular carcinoma. Prolonged inflammation and cirrhosis of the liver, often brought about by excessive alcohol use, stand as notable factors that increase the chances of liver cancer emerging.
Alcohol and the pancreas
The pancreas assists in digestion by producing enzymes that aid in breaking down food. Persistent alcohol misuse can result in pancreatitis, a serious inflammation of the pancreas that can affect digestion, causing intense stomach pain and a loss of weight.
The effect of alcohol on gut health
Recent studies have shown that alcohol can have a significant impact on the gut microbiome, which is the assortment of countless microorganisms in our intestines.
These microorganisms play a crucial role in our general well-being, encompassing our immune system performance, weight control, and mental well-being.
Disruptions in the gut microbiome due to excessive alcohol use can have widespread repercussions on overall health.
Moreover, imbalances in the gut microbiome have been associated with digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in addition to heightening the likelihood of developing conditions like liver disease, heart disease, obesity, and mental health disorders.
Thoughtful approach to alcohol
It is okay to have a little alcohol sometimes, but too much can hurt your stomach and other parts of your digestion. Knowing this helps you decide how much to drink.
If you or someone you know has trouble with alcohol, it’s important to get help. There are many places and people who can help you learn to drink less or stop.
