Single Episode of Binge Drinking Causes Adverse health Effects

Even a single episode of binge drinking is known to cause significant negative health effects, a new study reveals.

Binge drinking is the most common pattern of excessive alcohol use among Americans.  Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School discovered that even one episode of heavy drinking is linked to a collection of ill health effects that result in bacteria being leaked from the gut, leading to elevated levels of toxins in the blood.

Binge drinking that accounts for more than half of 79,000 excessive-drinking deaths in the United States is considered a major problem in towns and cities. Most often this heavy intake of alcohol poses a safety risk that is linked to car crashes and injuries.  Over the long term, it is known to damage liver and other organs. But this study found that even one episode of binge drinking causes leakage of bacterial toxins called endotoxins, from the gut into the blood stream, causing the  body to produce excessive 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," lead author Gyongyi Szabo, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at UMMS, said in a news statement. "Our observations suggest that an alcohol binge is more dangerous than previously thought."

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), binge drinking is defined as a pattern of drinking alcohol that causes the blood alcohol concentration to 0.08g/dL or more.  For an adult, it come to five or more drinks for men and four or more for women, in just two hours based on body weight.

 In order to assess the impact of binge drinking the researchers gave 11 men and 14 women enough alcohol in order to elevate their blood alcohol levels to at least .08g/dl within an hour.  After this,  the researchers collected blood samples of the participants every 30 minutes. This was done four hours after and again 24 hours later.

The researchers noticed that alcohol binge leads to excessive increase in endotoxin levels in blood.  These endotoxins are toxins present in the cell wall of particular bacteria that is release when cells are being damages.  Apart from this, they noticed bacterial DNA in the bloodstream, showing that bacteria has infused the gut. When compared to men, women had higher alcohol levels and circulating endotoxin levels.

The finding was documented in PLOS One.