Alcohol study shows immune system boost in moderate drinkers
PERHAPS all that pre-Christmas boozing has benefits after all. According to new research, it may even be ensuring you’ll face up to the big day fresh and flu-free!
PERHAPS all that pre-Christmas boozing has benefits after all.
According to new research, it may even be ensuring you’ll face up to the big day fresh and flu-free!
So the merrymaking may really be all the merrier thanks to all those naughty tipples.
Alcohol, according to a study published in the science journal Vaccine, can actually boost the immune system.
There is a catch of course: It only works if you drink in moderation (so it’s no excuse for going blotto at the bosses do).
The study, which has implications for how to improve the body’s response to infection and vaccinations, involved giving a group of 12 trained monkeys (no, not your office colleagues) “cocktails” — mixed drinks containing 4 per cent ethanol.
They were then given a steady supply of free drinks for 14 months. Well, half of them — six got the un-spiked version of the punch.
All had been vaccinated against small pox (have your colleagues?).
So, what happens when you give trained monkeys free alcohol for 14 months?
Some got stewed. Some were sippers. Others were bingers. Then there were the happy, romantic, sad and obnoxious drunks.
“Like humans, rhesus macaques showed highly variable drinking behaviour,” said Ilhem Messaoudi, the lead author of the paper.
The drinkers were quickly identified as belonging to two main groups: The “heavy drinkers” (those over the blood-alcohol level of 0.08), and the “moderate” drinkers.
The heavy drinkers had a “greatly diminished” response to the effect of vaccination in comparison to the tea-totalers.
The moderate drinkers, however, had an “enhanced response”.
“It seems that some of the benefits that we know of from moderate drinking might be related in some way to our immune system being boosted by that alcohol consumption,” one of the study’s authors writes.
Cause for celebration!
So is this new?
And should you start lobbying for “free vaccination-enhancers” at the office?
Studies have long show moderate alcohol consumption appears to extend life, reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s and boost the heart and circulatory system.
But the immunity bit is a bit of a surprise.
Once you have a cold, however, a deft dose of alcohol won’t work. It’ll only dehydrate you further, making the virus’ symptoms worse.
And despite that brandy bottle in your aunt’s medicine cabinet, alcohol has no inherent disease-fighting abilities anyway — beyond sterilising a wound and dulling the pain.
Science has the final word:
“For the average person who has, say, a glass of wine with dinner, (alcohol) does seem in general to improve health and cardiovascular function. And now we can add the immune system to that list.”
The next step? Figuring out why.