Alcohol Hinders Muscle Recovery
When you are exercising, a healthy immune system is required to aid performance and encourage muscle recovery. However, alcohol can put pressure on the immune system, especially when consumed in excess, so that it cannot function so effectively. This can, in turn, impair muscle recovery.
Research also shows that alcohol interferes with levels of myofibrillar protein synthesis . MPS helps the body respond to exercise so, if it becomes less effective as a result of alcohol consumption, muscle recovery and repair after a period of activity is hindered as well.5
There is also the issue that alcohol reduces our ability to follow an effective period of recovery after exercise. A period of rest after exercise is very important and, without it, various problems can arise including reduced muscle strength, reduced range of motion and swelling in the muscles.
Brain Participates In The Regulation Of Peripheral Inflammation And Also Bears Its Burden
Inflammation induces brain damage: Any event leading to an increased pro-inflammatory cytokine presence in the brain creates the potential for oxidative conditions, which can result in neuronal damage. In cases of CNS trauma or infection, further escalation of the cytotoxic conditions occurs when leukocytes infiltrate the brain. While necessary to stem the infection, leukocytes in the brain are also believed to contribute to neurodegeneration in CNS disorders such as Alzheimers disease and multiple sclerosis. Surprisingly, even when the injury initiating event is CNS inflammation, chemokines originating in the liver are responsible for mobilizing neutrophils from the bone marrow into circulation, making them available for infiltration into the brain. Although the mechanism by which CNS inflammation is signaled to the liver has not been determined, there is evidence that liver KCs are the source of the chemokines that mobilize the neutrophils.
Peripheral LPS injection, as a model of bacterial infection in rodents, leads to elevation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF in the serum and the CNS, even though LPS does not cross the blood brain barrier. Remarkably, TNF remains elevated in the brain for months after exposure to LPS, thus exerting a prolonged detrimental effect on the brain.
Tips For Enjoying Alcohol In Moderation
- Set a drinking limit. Put a cap on the number of drinks you have, since planning ahead can help you stick to your goals.
- Try tasty alternatives. Low sugar, non-alcoholic beverages can be a great replacement for your habitual glass of wine.
- Follow the âevery otherâ rule. It takes the body approximately an hour to process one alcoholic beverage, so for each one you drink, alternate with a glass of water.
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DW Fitness
So many factors must be taken into account. Sleep, activity levels, genetics and your job are just a few factors that can impact our health.
Diet is of course a large component for good health and longevity but focusing on foods as good or bad isnt helpful either.
Earlier this year, a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology claimed that eating up to three chocolate bars every month can drastically reduce your risk of experiencing heart failure later on in life.
Combining A Poor Diet With Alcohol
When you’ve been out for a fun night on the town, and the last call just passed, do you suddenly start craving french fries? Or pizza? Or anything carb and fat-heavy? Most folks do, but the combination of not-so-nutritious foods and alcohol are major contributors to inflammation, Poon reminds.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e
“Combine moderate alcohol consumption with a diet that is rich in anti-inflammatory foods,” she recommends. “Items that help combat inflammation include vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids. Fill your plate with a rainbow of fresh plant-based foods, and you will be on a good track towards optimal health.”
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Rules For Drinking Alcohol Safely With Arthritis
If youre not on a medication thats potentially toxic to the liver and your doctor sees no other signs that alcohol is interfering with your health, theres no reason you cant sometimes enjoy the relaxation, sociability, and potential health benefits of a little alcohol, says Dr. Bolster. If you want a drink, thats fine, but always in moderation.
Follow these guidelines to avoid experiencing negative side effects of drinking alcohol on your arthritis.
1. If you dont already drink, dont start just because of a possible heart-health benefit.
2. Have an honest conversation with your rheumatologist. Since dosage is so important in assessing possible risks, your rheumatologist needs the truth about what youre drinking and exactly how much. If you want to have a glass of wine, Id rather talk about it and you can have that wine and really enjoy it instead of having misconceptions about the risk, says Dr. Manno.
3. Be vigilant about liver tests. If you take methotrexate or another medication metabolized by the liver, regular checks of liver enzymes are recommended. This is doubly important if you drink alcohol. Keeping an eye on your blood work is a great way to find out early if youre having a liver issue. If there is a change, the first thing Ill ask about is alcohol and you may need to cut back or stop, says Manno.
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Does Alcohol Affect Inflammation
Inflammation causes the symptoms of RA, including joint pain, stiffness, and fatigue. Heavy alcohol use can increase inflammation in the body, while moderate drinking may actually reduce inflammation.
A 2015 review states that moderate drinking can reduce certain markers of inflammation, which may include c-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor -alpha receptor 2. Binge drinking, on the other hand, increases inflammation.
When a person drinks excessively, alcohol can damage the gut and liver, leading to body wide inflammation. Scientists alcohol-related medical conditions with chronic inflammation.
When taken in moderation, however, alcohol should not negatively affect people with RA.
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Misconceptions About Alcohol & Pain Relief
Before answering the question on can alcohol cause joint pain, it is important to note that people have used alcohol as a form of pain relief for thousands of years, and it has proven to be effective in reducing pain in both humans and animals by depressing the central nervous system. But despite this, experts do not recommend the practice as it can increase the risk for various other health issues. People with chronic pain should be particularly wary of using alcohol as a form of pain relief because excessive intake can lead to addiction.
How Sugar Can Affect Inflammation
Let’s start with the big one. Sugar is the king of inflammation, inflicting a massive blow to your gut and overall health.
This low-grade inflammation contributes to the development of numerous age-related chronic conditions including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease , type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease that may lead to a heart attack.
Sugar also contributes to obesity, characterized by a chronic low-grade inflammation in fatty tissues as well as systemically. With obese people, we see an increased immune response within fat tissue that researchers call metabolic inflammation.
Sugar, especially added sugar in processed food, can also result in insulin resistance. In this condition, your pancreas works on overdrive, secreting ever higher amounts of insulin because your cells have become resistant to “hearing” this hormone signal.
Insulin resistance can lead to metabolic syndrome, a major cause of heart and vascular disease, and diabetesall major causes of health problems that can destroy your quality of life. Insulin resistance also perpetuates the vicious cycle of inflammation. Chronic inflammation, in turn, fuels insulin resistance. Once it gets kicked off by excess sugar and processed carbs in the diet, it’s hard to shut off.
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Be Mindful Of Healthy Sugars & Hidden Sugars
Many of my patients know the usual suspects for sugar. That piece of birthday cake isn’t going to do their gut or their overall health any favors, and they know to keep it to the occasional indulgence .
More problematic are the so-called healthy sugars in foods like agave-sweetened cookies, almond and other nut milks, and even fruit. Large amounts of fructose, even from healthy foods like fruit, can create or exacerbate insulin resistance and inflammation.
Insulin resistance doesn’t exist in a vacuum it also leads to other imbalances that fuel the inflammatory fires. Take leptin, a very important hormone that regulates your feeling of fullness. The more leptin in circulation, the less hungry you should be.
However, the brains of people who are obese do not respond to the leptin signal. Their levels are high, but these levels are not sensed by their brain to signal that they are full and they should stop eating. That leads to another problemleptin resistanceleaving you hungry when you’ve already had all the food you need for fuel.
Too much sugar leads to insulin resistance, which leads to leptin resistance, resulting in weight gainall of which increase inflammation.
All carbohydrates convert to sugar in your body. Some convert more quickly than others. If you eat a food containing gluten and you have a sensitivity to that food, that will only add more fuel to your inflammatory levels.
Want to dial down inflammation? Start with sugar, in all its many forms.
Is Alcohol And Swelling And Alcohol And Inflammation Always Synonymous With One Another
To manage drinking without causing too much inflammation and swelling, you should drink alcohol in moderation. This is because alcohol here is safe to consume as long as one drinks in moderation. In fact, in moderation, alcohol has been found to have protective effects against cardiovascular disease. You should avoid alcohol though if you are an alcoholic or are recovering from alcohol addiction.
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Wine Or Beerwhich Is Worse For Osteoarthritis
Weiya Zhang, PhD, associate professor and reader in musculoskeletal epidemiology, faculty of medicine and health sciences, University of Nottingham, UK. His study appeared in Arthritis Research & Therapy.
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If you like to end the day with a cocktail or enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with your evening meal, you probably dont think about what that libation is doing to your joints. But your choice of drink can be a factor in whether osteoarthritis comes to plague you or not. Could the contents of your cocktail glass really be setting you up for bad hips or knees? According to a team of investigators from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, wine might be a hero and beer a villain.
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Think About Your Drink Of Choice
How your body responds to alcohol depends on several factors. Enjoying a glass of organic red wine will have a completely different impact than drinking a margarita or other sugary alcohol concoctions .
Some people also enjoy a glass of dry red wine as their dessert. For others, a glass becomes two, and before they know it, theyre devouring a second piece of pie. In other words, know how alcohol makes you behave, as it disinhibits your brain control centers and will lead you to overindulge in the other contributors to inflammation.
Like caffeine, alcohol can be dehydrating. Be especially mindful to drink sufficient water when youre drinking. Certain situations like drinking while flying can be even more dehydrating, potentially exacerbating inflammation.
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Alcohol & Gout Studies
Its long been recognized that alcohol consumption is a high risk factor for gout. And this has been backed up by several studies looking at the effect of alcohol consumption on gout.
One 2004 study, using data from 14,809 participants in the USA, looked at the relationship between alcohol and uric acid.
The study authors concluded that:
These data suggest that the effect of individual alcoholic beverages on serum uric acid levels varies substantially: beer confers a larger increase than liquor, whereas moderate wine drinking does not increase serum uric acid levels.
This study suggests that although drinking beer and spirits is definitely linked to a higher risk of developing gout, moderate wine drinking may not increase the risk.
It should be noted, though, that this study only considered the impact of alcohol on incident gout, i.e., first time gout, not recurrent gout episodes. In other words, on the risk of someone having their first gout attack.
But what about patients who already have gout? How does, for example, moderate amounts of wine affect them?
Well, one recent study looked at just that: the effect of alcohol consumption on recurrent gout. This 2006 study of 197 gout patients concluded that:
And, in terms of the effect of specific alcohol types on gout, they found that:
When the effect of specific alcoholic beverage was assessed separately, the risk of recurrent gout attack increased as the number of drinks of each specific alcoholic beverage increased.
Treatment For Alcohol Addiction
To avoid chronic inflammation, its important to set an alcohol limit. But, people sometimes have trouble setting limits due to an addiction. The Meadows Texas can help individuals overcome their chemical dependence on alcohol through a program of detoxification and inpatient treatment.
Once people have control over their alcohol intake, they may gain control over their chronic inflammation as well. The health benefits of this empowerment are truly profound.
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Red Wine Improves Metabolic Health
Consumption of red wine in moderate amounts improves overall metabolism of the body. It lowers blood glucose levels.
It regulates body weight if taken in low amounts and maintains the glycemic index of the body.
Metabolic disorders can be managed by intake of red wine. Studies have shown that supplementation of red wine might be a useful nutritional approach to treating type 2 diabetes.
What does this mean? This suggests that red wine has overall health benefits. By regulating the metabolism of the body, it lowers the risk of developing arthritis.
When Inflammation Runs Amok
Then there’s the flip side of the coin, when your body goes into overdrive and misinterprets a threat, attacking its own healthy tissues. This is frequently referred to as an autoimmune response.
Conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis , lupus, psoriasis and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis are just a few of the autoimmune disorders that people frequently suffer from.
Osteoarthritis is not typically an autoimmune issue but can trigger the same sort of reaction when the degeneration of soft and bone tissues have reached the point of constant irritation.
Interestingly, certain foods can also trigger this immune response – sugar is the biggest culprit. Sugar creates insulin secretion spikes when a large amount of glucose is detected by the body. When insulin is released in bigger quantities, the cytokines mistakenly assume something bad is happening and call in the immune troops. This results in an increase in inflammation.
Okay, so what can you do about it?
You Plus Relief is the world’s most powerful 100% natural pain relief cream. It’s designed to help your body heal by fighting inflammation in multiple pathways.
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Your Definitive Healthy Alcohol Guide
If youre health-consciousbut still love a glass of wine with dinner, a beer or two on the weekend, or a nice long happy hour with coworkersyouve probably wondered how drinking affects your overall health.
In functional medicine, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to food. And the same goes for alcohol consumption. Some people can handle a higher alcohol consumption while others would be better off avoiding it altogether. But for the most part, alcohol can be enjoyed in moderation.
If you are curious how alcohol affects your health, how much alcohol is too much, or just looking to understand what the options are for the healthiest alcohol to drink, look no further. Heres your complete guide on alcohol and your health.
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How Do You Make Healthier Alcohol Choices
It is important to choose your mixers wisely:
- Start by simply saying no to soda or other pre-mixed syrups since they are loaded with sugar and can impact your gut health and perpetuate inflammation.
- Stick to flavored seltzer like La Croix, Spindrift, or even Zevia, which is made with stevia instead of soda.
- Start using kombucha as a mixer which will give you the added benefit of probiotics and the antioxidant power of tea.
- Incorporate herbs into your cocktails.
- Make homemade syrups out of lavender, ginger, or cilantro, which can bring additional health benefits like anxiety and stress, easing digestive distress and inflammation, and enhancing detoxification.
Cocktails are also a fun opportunity to play around with plant-based herbal medicines, like adaptogens, which have taken the wellness world by storm. Adaptogens are a group of natural ingredients with an amazing ability to restore balance in the body and since they are most commonly found in powdered form, you can easily mix these into your drinks.
Save this article for the next time you throw a dinner party, attend office happy hour, enjoy a drink at home. Your health will thank you as you make an effort to choose the healthiest alcohol to drink!
As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe.
BY DR. WILL COLE
Evidence-based reviewed article
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Other Ways Alcohol Affects Arthritis
There are some other things to know about the effects of alcohol on arthritis:
- Drinking can be problematic because alcohol is a diuretic. This means your body loses water as you drink, and this can lead to problems with ligaments and tissue. Your joints require fluids to move smoothly, so if you are dehydrated you may feel the results in your joints, and it can make the symptoms of arthritis more noticeable or worse.
- In terms of rheumatoid arthritis, there is research showing that people who have at least one drink three times or more a week are four times less likely to have RA than nondrinkers, but with more than that, you may be putting yourself at risk for other conditions and diseases.
- Its important to consider the medications you may be taking to treat the inflammation and joint pain. If someone takes disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs , theyre advised not to drink alcohol because of the increased risk of liver toxicity.
- Its not just prescription drugs that may cause problems. If you take over-the-counter NSAIDs like Aleve or Motrin and you drink alcohol, you may be at a higher risk of ulcers and bleeding. Combining alcohol with acetaminophen, which can be used to treat the pain of arthritis, increases the risk of liver disease.
