Binge Drinking Hurts Immune System, New Study Reports

Binge drinking can take a toll on the body's immune system, a new but small study reported. According to researchers from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, binge drinking increases risk of infections particularly in young adults.

"There is less awareness of alcohol's harmful effects in other areas, such as the immune system," said study co-author Elizabeth Kovacs, director of Loyola's Alcohol Research Program.

For this study, the researchers recruited seven men and eight women with a median age of 27. The participants were asked to drink four or five vodka-and-seltzer cocktails within a 20-minute span. The ratio in the cocktails was one part vodka to four parts seltzer. Their blood was collected at 20 minutes, at two hours and at five hours after they hit their highest level of intoxication.

The researchers found that during the first 20 minutes, the participants' immune system revved up. After two and five hours, however, the participants' immune system started to become sluggish. A weakened immune system increases risk of infections.

"When a lot of people think of harmful patterns of drinking, they think of people who are alcoholics or daily heavy drinkers," said the lead author, Dr. Majid Afshar, a pulmonologist, critical care physician and epidemiologist at Loyola, reported by NBC News. "But the study makes the point that one episode of this type of drinking can certainly be disruptive in your immune system and potentially lead to problems."

George Koob added, "While it is well known that excessive alcohol use can lead to traumatic injury and the behavioral and physiological pathology associated with addiction...studies like this help us understand that even a single binge drinking episode can have detrimental effects on our immune system."

The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and by the University of Maryland. It was published in the journal, Alcohol.