This blog was written by Chelsea, our on-staff Holistic Nutritionist! Book sessions with Chelsea over on our registration site at https://reconline.yorkulions.ca/
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In Canada, alcohol consumption is something that is very normalized in our society and culture. Having a glass of wine after work, meeting up with the guys after practice for a beer, or toasting your bestie on her new placement for the summer with a glass of bubbly – nothing out of the ordinary!
But what if I were to tell you that alcohol plays a major role in your gut health?
Let’s dig in.
Alcohol + Your Liver
Your liver is a powerhouse for processing toxins and producing bile, which our gut needs in order to digest fats.
Because your liver is essential for detoxification, it acts like a filter – everything runs through it and it keeps the toxins contained while straining out the useful things. NSAIDs and alcohol are two major toxins that create a build-up in the liver detox process.
If you tend to consume alcohol regularly, your liver will inevitably suffer some ill effects. This puts your gut at risk of experiencing issues with fat digestion, increasing the likelihood of constipation, bloating, and malabsorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K).
There are ways to support your liver and liver health through occasional alcohol consumption, but there is no way to mitigate the long-term effects of regular consumption.
Alcohol + “Leaky Gut”
“Leaky Gut” is a term often used in place of Intestinal Permeability – both meaning that your delicate gut lining is “leaking”.
Our intestinal wall is made up of tight junctions. When stressors are constantly present in our lives and body, these junctions begin to loosen. The junctions are meant to be tight as to act as a barrier between the outside environment (our digestive tract), and our inner environment within the body, only allowing things to enter our bloodstream that our body needs (such as key nutrients) and keeping things that may be harmful to the body, out.
However, when the intestinal lining becomes permeable, or “leaky,” it can allow substances from inside our GI tract, to leak into our bloodstream. Substances like food particles, pathogenic metabolites, endotoxins, etc., that end up in our bloodstream can contribute to systemic inflammation, which can wreak havoc on many systems throughout the body.
Alcohol + Stress
Did you know that alcohol is a stressor for our bodies? Remember, our bodies can’t differentiate if a stressor is internal or external. Basically, we have no idea if we feel fight or flight because of a bear running at us, or several alcoholic drinks in our system.
When our bodies experience stress (and a stress response is initiated) our bodies react by “deprioritizing” specific systems and responses, while prioritizing responses that are imminent to survival. Your digestive system is one of the systems that gets “deprioritized” in this state.
Over time, if this occurs repeatedly, the digestive function can become impacted, and we can see GI symptoms develop as a result.
If you’re going to enjoy an alcoholic beverage, try to at least enjoy it with a meal, or after eating a well-balanced, nutrient-dense meal, and not on an empty stomach.
Empty stomach + alcohol = greater risk for stress response.
Alcohol + Your Microbiome
Alcohol consumption may have an impact on the composition of our microbiome (gut bacteria). Studies have shown that there may be a reduction in the good bacteria in the gut (specifically lactobacillus + Bifidobacterium), and an increase in pathogenic bacteria species that are endotoxin producers (think E.coli, Salmonella, etc.).
We need to have homeostasis in the gut for it, and our bodies, to function optimally. Maintaining a healthy balance between beneficial flora: opportunistic flora in the gut promotes a healthy microbial environment, and therefore a healthy gut!
Alcohol can disrupt this environment and increase the pathogenic bacteria (aka dysbiosis), which can lead to digestive drama (constipation/diarrhea, motility changes, bloating, gas, etc.), as well as inflammation in the digestive tract and therefore throughout the body.
Speaking of microbiome – did you know we have a microbiome in our mouths and that it has a significant impact on our gut microbiome?
Studies have shown that alcohol consumption can negatively impact our oral microbiome. This means we may see a decrease in beneficial flora in the oral microbiome, as well as an increase in bacteria that may be pathogenic.
An imbalance in the oral microbiome is not only detrimental to oral health but potentially to digestive and overall health as well.
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