Alcohol and Gut - Brain - Liver Health
Alcohol generates great discussions amongst scientists who seem to want to make this substance part of our health routine yet bump into research that keeps showing us otherwise.
Why so much controversy? Bishehsari et al. (2017) shows that alcohol creates inflammation in the gut while Chen et al. (2022) finds that it is the gut - brain axis that suffers.
Topiwala et al. (2017) disrupts the notion that moderate consumption of alcohol is healthy by showing it is a risk factor for adverse brain and cognitive decline.
Wolstenholme et al. (2024) expands the gut - brain axis to include the liver. Of course. We do know how involved the liver is in detox. While Zahr (2024) discusses alcohol and dementia.
Research is very robust connecting alcohol use and breast cancer (Sohi et al., 2024). Scientists from all over the world are studying the risks, analyzing and reviewing clinical data, and the conclusions are always the same - there is more risk with alcohol (Zhu et al., 2024).
What then is the verdict for enjoying alcohol? How much is safe to drink? We will cover these topics in the next few weeks, and if you have discovered a fantastic research article - please send to me.
Meanwhile, since alcohol requires a very healthy gut and liver, let's offer support with probiotics and some cruciferous sprouts that have a very stable and high Sulforaphanes.
Yours,
Dohrea
References
- Wolstenholme, J. T., Duong, N. K., Brocato, E. R., & Bajaj, J. S. (2024). Gut-liver-brain axis and alcohol use disorder: treatment potential of fecal microbiota transplantation. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 44(1), 01.
- Zahr, N. M. (2024). Alcohol use disorder and dementia: a review. Alcohol research: current reviews, 44(1), 03.
- Quelch, D., Lingford-Hughes, A., John, B., Nutt, D., Bradberry, S., & Roderique-Davies, G. (2025). Promising strategies for the prevention of alcohol-related brain damage through optimised management of acute alcohol withdrawal: A focussed literature review. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 39(7), 652-666.
- Sohi, I., Rehm, J., Saab, M., Virmani, L., Franklin, A., Sánchez, G., ... & Shield, K. (2024). Alcoholic beverage consumption and female breast cancer risk: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of prospective cohort studies. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 48(12), 2222-2241.
- Zhu, P., Zhang, Y., Chen, Q., Qiu, W., Chen, M., Xue, L., ... & Yang, H. (2024). The interaction of diet, alcohol, genetic predisposition, and the risk of breast cancer: a cohort study from the UK Biobank. European Journal of Nutrition, 63(2), 343-356.