How alcohol impacts our health

Written By Laura Hett

Always wondered about how that glass of wine is impacting the body? Laura Hett, holistic nutritionist and yoga teacher at Wildr Wellness, breaks down HOW alcohol impacts the body, deals to some classic myths and leaves us with a few tips and tricks.

HOW ALCOHOL IMPACTS OUR -> 

Gut Health

One of the most important systems in our body is our gut health. Our gut interacts directly with our immune system, hormones, and brain. More on that another day!

Alcohol has a massive impact on our gut microbiome, the community of bacteria, yeasts and viruses that live within our digestive tract. It changes the environment of the digestive tract to be more favourable for the bad kind of bacteria - so the the bad guys tend to thrive when we’re drinking alcohol regularly.

It also decreases our digestive capacity - it make it harder for us to break down our food and absorb the nutrients and energy from it! Keep scrolling for tips and tricks to support your gut health..!

Liver

The liver is our master detoxification organ. It’s incredible - it can detoxify literally anything that we throw at it, but it does need adequate resources to do so. Every toxin that we inhale, consume via food, or that gets absorbed through our skin - needs to be detoxified though the liver. The liver also processes endogenous molecules (these are molecules that the body makes itself) such as immune molecules, and steroid hormones. These all important resources that the liver needs are adequate protein, b-vitamins, choline, and magnesium.

Consuming alcohol adds another heap of toxic molecules to the load that the liver is already under (and in the modern world, our liver is loaded!). This additional load might even mean that the liver runs out of resources to deal with all the toxins! When the liver can’t process toxins, it will store them in fat tissue. So if we’re constantly overloading the liver with excess toxins, this can result in weight gain.

Sleep

Many people report getting to sleep easier after a drink or two (or three...) but the quality of sleep is massively compromised. Although it doesn’t seem like it, from a brain and body perspective, sleep is a very active process. During sleep your brain rinses itself (yes it’s like a shower for your brain!), muscles are repairing, your gastrointestinal system is clearing itself out and neural pathways are being created.

Rigorous studies on sleep (think full electrodes on the head to check brain activity vibe) have shown that alcohol acts more like a sedative - a sedated sleep does not achieve all those active processes that a normal sleep would. 

When I work with clients, no matter whether they’re dealing with low energy, hormone issues or gut issues - getting adequate good quality sleep is the number one priority! It positively impacts our mind and body in so many ways.

Weight Gain

As mentioned above, loading the liver up can essentially force the body into storing extra body fat as it needs a ‘safe’ place to store the toxins that it doesn’t have the resources to process.

As a nutritionist, I get many clients who are looking to lose weight and if people want the simplest solution then it’s definitely to cut alcohol completely (I said simplest, not easiest!).

You’re also literally drinking calories - any calories (or energy) you drink is harder for your body to register and so as a result, you are more likely to consume too many which can also result in storing excess body fat.

The old red wine myth

I still hear it a lot “but one glass of red wine per day is good for you!?” There’s some truth to this. There are antioxidants, such as resveratrol, present in red wine which are great for your health. But be aware, is it really just 1 glass of wine that you’re having? There’s likely some specific benefit to having that (one) glass of wine alongside dinner (and laughter with friends!) as the acidity might support digestion - drink like the french notoriously do (did?).

Let’s talk about context - are you having a glass of wine every night ON TOP of a stressful, busy life and an already loaded liver? If you’re feeling good, don’t have any health concerns, and eat plenty of greens and wholefoods  - then your body can probably handle the one glass of red wine and benefit from the antioxidants. But if your liver is struggling then the net impact of the wine is likely to be negative. 

For myself, I react fairly severely to histamines - especially when I’m stressed! So if I try to have a glass of wine to relax on a Friday after a busy week, I feel MUCH worse than if I relaxed in another way (hot bath is my go to!). But a glass of red wine while I’m relaxing on holiday is not so bad…! Context is important.

Is organic a good choice when it comes to alcohol?

Organic wine is good for you and the environment. Organic wine contains less toxin load due to using fewer herbicides, pesticides, and chemicals in the growing process (reference 1, 2). 

The jury is out on the data to back up whether organic wine is healthier than conventional in terms of antioxidant and resveratrol content (references 3-6). There’s a dearth of good quality research and there’s certainly none that’s been done in NZ. It’s still a good idea to choose organic or biodynamic as it benefits the natural environment but according to the (limited) research it can’t be justified as better for your health. We’d love to hear from any wineries if you know of any research being completed.

And what about sulphites? The general consensus is that sulphite in wine only actually impacts 1% of the population who have a sulphite allergy. Organic and biodynamic wine are still able to use sulphite but just a lot less than conventional wine. If you’re getting headaches from small amounts of wine, you could have a sulphite allergy but it’s also possible that the culprit could actually be the histamine that wine contains - red wine especially. Histamine is essentially a by-product of the fermentation process and so the amount present does depend upon the types of yeast and aren’t necessarily higher or lower in organic wine.

How to support our body during drinking or post drinking?

There’s so much that we can do to support our liver and health so here’s somewhere to start;

  • Avoid drinking on an empty stomach and support your microbiome with a probiotic the day after drinking.

  • Eat plenty of leafy green vegetables which naturally provide us with b-vitamins and antioxidants that will support a healthy liver

  • Supplement with extra b-vitamins to provide your liver with those all important resources

  • Eat plenty of good quality protein - aim for a serving of protein at every meal

  • Don’t drink alcohol close to bedtime - have a glass at dinner and leave it at that.

  • Quantity is important, be aware of how much you are having - is it really just 1 glass? 

I truly believe that wine and alcohol are not inherently bad - it’s how we use them.

Quantity matters, quality matters. And I’ll finish by leaving something here to contemplate… Are we drinking for pure enjoyment and connection with our loved ones? Or as a distraction….?

Laura Hett
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