Moderate Alcohol Consumption and the Gastrointestinal Tract

Abstract

Background: A high alcohol intake is significantly associated with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, but less is known about the effects of moderate consumption, specifically moderate average volume of alcohol consumption. Methods: A systematic computer-assisted literature review was completed in order to review current scientific knowledge surrounding this topic. Results: Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a number of gastrointestinal health risks, including liver diseases, oropharyngeal cancer, esophageal cancer and pancreatitis but may play a positive role in gastritis and cholelithiasis. Conclusion: Moderate alcohol consumption may play a positive or negative role in disease etiology, but the overall conclusion is that moderate alcohol intake is not a high risk factor for many of the gastrointestinal diseases associated with high levels of consumption. The etiology of alcohol diseases is also linked to patterns of drinking, so this is an important area for future research in this area.

Alcohol as a risk factor for liver cirrhosis: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…For mortality in women, already one drink per day on average was associated with a significantly elevated risk, and the risks increased with increasing volume of alcohol consumption. Thus, for women in mortality studies, the data were more consistent with a continuous risk increase without threshold (see also [46,47]) for potential mechanisms and a further discussion). For men, a very low threshold could not be discounted, even though the same underlying biological processes apply.…”

Non-pharmacological factors that determine drug use and addiction

“…In humans of western societies, the most frequently used legal drug for this instrumentalization goal is alcohol. Numerous studies suggest that a moderate alcohol consumption is associated with better health, more close friendships, and more family support than total abstinence (Peele and Brodsky, 2000;Rodgers et al, 2000;Taylor et al, 2005;Mondaini et al, 2009;Skogen et al, 2009). Moderate alcohol consumption was also linked to lower rates of stress-induced depression (Lipton, 1994;Tizabi et al, 2018), and reduced the risk of somatic diagnoses as well as anxiety and depression compared to…”

Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Diseases of the Gastrointestinal System: A Review of Pathophysiological Processes

“…Articles included in this review were identifi ed from searches of the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database and the OVID Medline database from 1966 to June, week 1,2005. The main search terms used were: 'alcohol drinking' or 'moderate drinking' and 'biochemical mechanisms' or 'processes' or 'mechanisms' or 'pathophysiology' in combination with each of the identifi ed disease categories using their MeSH subject headings (for example, for liver cancer, 'liver neoplasms' was used).…”

“…The role of moderate alcohol consumption is generally negatively associated with diseases of the gastrointestinal (GI) system [1] . The effects of acute and chronic levels of consumption on GI organs are very well documented [2][3][4] , as are the numerous physiological processes that facilitate damage accompanying high levels of ethanol consumption [2,5] .…”