Portal latinoamericano de toxicología
Acute binge drinking increases serum endotoxin in healthy individuals, study
16 May, 2014
Single episode of binge drinking can adversely affect health, according to new study. sciencedaily.com. May 15, 2014.Summary: A single episode of binge drinking can have significant negative health effects resulting in bacteria leaking from the gut, leading to increased levels of endotoxins in the blood, clinical scientists have found. Greater gut permeability and increased endotoxin levels have been linked to many of the health issues related to chronic drinking, including alcoholic liver disease.
It only takes one time. That’s the message of a new study by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School on binge drinking. Their research found that a single episode of binge drinking can have significant negative health effects resulting in bacteria leaking from the gut, leading to increased levels of toxins in the blood. Published online in PLOS ONE, the study showed that these bacterial toxins, called endotoxins, caused the body to produce immune cells involved in fever, inflammation, and tissue destruction.
"We found that a single alcohol binge can elicit an immune response, potentially impacting the health of an otherwise healthy individual," said lead author Gyongyi Szabo, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, vice chair of the Department of Medicine and associate dean for clinical and translational sciences at UMMS. "Our observations suggest that an alcohol binge is more dangerous than previously thought."Binge drinking is defined by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08g/dL or above. For a typical adult, this corresponds with consuming five or more drinks for men, or four or more drinks for women, in about two hours, depending on body weight.Binge drinking is known to pose safety risks associated with car crashes and injuries. Over the long term, binge drinking can damage the liver and other organs, but this is key evidence that a single alcohol binge can cause damaging health effects such as bacterial leakage from the gut into the blood stream, according to a statement released by George Koob, PhD, director of the NIAAA.To assess the impact of binge drinking, 11 men and 14 women were given enough alcohol to raise their blood alcohol levels to at least .08 g/dL within an hour. Blood samples were then taken every 30 minutes for four hours after and again 24 hours later.Szabo and colleagues found that the alcohol binge resulted in a rapid increase in endotoxin levels in the blood. Endotoxins are toxins contained in the cell wall of certain bacteria that are released when the cell is destroyed. They also found evidence of bacterial DNA in the bloodstream, showing that bacteria had permeated the gut. Compared to men, women had higher blood alcohol levels and circulating endotoxin levels.Earlier studies have tied chronic alcohol use to increased gut permeability, wherein potentially harmful products can travel through the intestinal wall and be carried to other parts of the body. Greater gut permeability and increased endotoxin levels have been linked to many of the health issues related to chronic drinking, including alcoholic liver disease.
Journal Reference: Shashi Bala, Miguel Marcos, Arijeet Gattu, Donna Catalano, Gyongyi Szabo. Acute Binge Drinking Increases Serum Endotoxin and Bacterial DNA Levels in Healthy Individuals. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9 (5): e96864 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096864
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"We found that a single alcohol binge can elicit an immune response, potentially impacting the health of an otherwise healthy individual," said lead author Gyongyi Szabo, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, vice chair of the Department of Medicine and associate dean for clinical and translational sciences at UMMS. "Our observations suggest that an alcohol binge is more dangerous than previously thought."Binge drinking is defined by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08g/dL or above. For a typical adult, this corresponds with consuming five or more drinks for men, or four or more drinks for women, in about two hours, depending on body weight.Binge drinking is known to pose safety risks associated with car crashes and injuries. Over the long term, binge drinking can damage the liver and other organs, but this is key evidence that a single alcohol binge can cause damaging health effects such as bacterial leakage from the gut into the blood stream, according to a statement released by George Koob, PhD, director of the NIAAA.To assess the impact of binge drinking, 11 men and 14 women were given enough alcohol to raise their blood alcohol levels to at least .08 g/dL within an hour. Blood samples were then taken every 30 minutes for four hours after and again 24 hours later.Szabo and colleagues found that the alcohol binge resulted in a rapid increase in endotoxin levels in the blood. Endotoxins are toxins contained in the cell wall of certain bacteria that are released when the cell is destroyed. They also found evidence of bacterial DNA in the bloodstream, showing that bacteria had permeated the gut. Compared to men, women had higher blood alcohol levels and circulating endotoxin levels.Earlier studies have tied chronic alcohol use to increased gut permeability, wherein potentially harmful products can travel through the intestinal wall and be carried to other parts of the body. Greater gut permeability and increased endotoxin levels have been linked to many of the health issues related to chronic drinking, including alcoholic liver disease.
Journal Reference: Shashi Bala, Miguel Marcos, Arijeet Gattu, Donna Catalano, Gyongyi Szabo. Acute Binge Drinking Increases Serum Endotoxin and Bacterial DNA Levels in Healthy Individuals. PLoS ONE, 2014; 9 (5): e96864 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096864
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Read also related: Effects of alcohol in young binge drinkers predicts future alcoholism.sciencedaily.com. May 15, 2014.Summary:Heavy social drinkers who report greater stimulation and reward from alcohol are more likely to develop alcohol use disorder over time, report researchers. The findings run counter to existing hypotheses that innate tolerance to alcohol drives alcoholism. "Heavy drinkers who felt alcohol’s stimulant and pleasurable effects at the highest levels in their 20s were the ones with the riskiest drinking profiles in the future and most likely to go on and have alcohol problems in their 30s," the lead said, "In comparison, participants reporting fewer positive effects of alcohol were more likely to mature out of binge drinking as they aged."
Heavy social drinkers who report greater stimulation and reward from alcohol are more likely to develop alcohol use disorder over time, report researchers from the University of Chicago, May 15 in the journal Biological Psychiatry. The findings run counter to existing hypotheses that innate tolerance to alcohol drives alcoholism.
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, a team led by Andrea King, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, analyzed the subjective response of 104 young adult heavy social drinkers to alcohol and tracked their long-term drinking habits."Heavy drinkers who felt alcohol’s stimulant and pleasurable effects at the highest levels in their 20s were the ones with the riskiest drinking profiles in the future and most likely to go on and have alcohol problems in their 30s," King said, "In comparison, participants reporting fewer positive effects of alcohol were more likely to mature out of binge drinking as they aged."As part of a long-term study, King and her team carefully screened and studied heavy social drinkers who reported a pattern of binge drinking behavior as young adults — at least four (for women) or five (for men) drinks per occasion, between one and five times per week. A group of light social drinkers was used as a control. Participants engaged in three sessions, in which they were given a placebo drink with only the smell of alcohol, a low dose of alcohol or a high dose. They then answered questionnaires, took performance and memory tests, and were sampled for levels of the stress hormone cortisol.The initial assessment when the participants were in their 20s revealed that the heavy drinkers showed a strongly positive preference to alcohol, reporting greater stimulating effects, ‘liking’, and ‘wanting more’, with lower sedative and cortisol effects. Participants were then assessed in regular follow-ups to track their drinking behaviors and symptoms of addiction over time.Six years later, the heavy drinkers, now with an average age in their early thirties, fell into three distinct trajectory groups of alcohol addiction symptoms — high, intermediate and low. (Light drinkers formed one low-risk drinking group over time with no addiction symptoms so they were not further examined.) Searching for how those initially measured alcohol responses might predict which group the participants fell into, King and her team found that those in the high alcohol addiction symptom group reported far higher stimulation and pleasure from alcohol effects than members of the low or intermediate groups. Tolerance to alcohol’s fatiguing effects was less predictive of the future course of addiction."We knew that at age 25, there were binge drinkers who were sensitive to alcohol’s more positive effects," King said. "We just didn’t know what was going to happen to them. Now we show that they’re the ones more likely to go on to experience more alcohol problems." King and her colleagues are now engaged in pilot work to see if early intervention in drinkers with a positive response to alcohol is effective. They also continue to follow participants well into their 30’s."Those who drink heavily might want to pay more attention to their response to alcohol for important warning signs," King said. "If you have sensitivity to the positive effects of alcohol, it might be better to moderate your use earlier than later."
Journal Reference: Andrea C. King, Patrick J. McNamara, Deborah S. Hasin, Dingcai Cao. Alcohol Challenge Responses Predict Future Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms: A 6-Year Prospective Study. Biological Psychiatry, 2014; 75 (10): 798 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.08.001
Heavy social drinkers who report greater stimulation and reward from alcohol are more likely to develop alcohol use disorder over time, report researchers from the University of Chicago, May 15 in the journal Biological Psychiatry. The findings run counter to existing hypotheses that innate tolerance to alcohol drives alcoholism.
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, a team led by Andrea King, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, analyzed the subjective response of 104 young adult heavy social drinkers to alcohol and tracked their long-term drinking habits."Heavy drinkers who felt alcohol’s stimulant and pleasurable effects at the highest levels in their 20s were the ones with the riskiest drinking profiles in the future and most likely to go on and have alcohol problems in their 30s," King said, "In comparison, participants reporting fewer positive effects of alcohol were more likely to mature out of binge drinking as they aged."As part of a long-term study, King and her team carefully screened and studied heavy social drinkers who reported a pattern of binge drinking behavior as young adults — at least four (for women) or five (for men) drinks per occasion, between one and five times per week. A group of light social drinkers was used as a control. Participants engaged in three sessions, in which they were given a placebo drink with only the smell of alcohol, a low dose of alcohol or a high dose. They then answered questionnaires, took performance and memory tests, and were sampled for levels of the stress hormone cortisol.The initial assessment when the participants were in their 20s revealed that the heavy drinkers showed a strongly positive preference to alcohol, reporting greater stimulating effects, ‘liking’, and ‘wanting more’, with lower sedative and cortisol effects. Participants were then assessed in regular follow-ups to track their drinking behaviors and symptoms of addiction over time.Six years later, the heavy drinkers, now with an average age in their early thirties, fell into three distinct trajectory groups of alcohol addiction symptoms — high, intermediate and low. (Light drinkers formed one low-risk drinking group over time with no addiction symptoms so they were not further examined.) Searching for how those initially measured alcohol responses might predict which group the participants fell into, King and her team found that those in the high alcohol addiction symptom group reported far higher stimulation and pleasure from alcohol effects than members of the low or intermediate groups. Tolerance to alcohol’s fatiguing effects was less predictive of the future course of addiction."We knew that at age 25, there were binge drinkers who were sensitive to alcohol’s more positive effects," King said. "We just didn’t know what was going to happen to them. Now we show that they’re the ones more likely to go on to experience more alcohol problems." King and her colleagues are now engaged in pilot work to see if early intervention in drinkers with a positive response to alcohol is effective. They also continue to follow participants well into their 30’s."Those who drink heavily might want to pay more attention to their response to alcohol for important warning signs," King said. "If you have sensitivity to the positive effects of alcohol, it might be better to moderate your use earlier than later."
Journal Reference: Andrea C. King, Patrick J. McNamara, Deborah S. Hasin, Dingcai Cao. Alcohol Challenge Responses Predict Future Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms: A 6-Year Prospective Study. Biological Psychiatry, 2014; 75 (10): 798 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.08.001