New Study Suggests Drinking in Excess Could Affect Respiratory Health

The study, carried out by a team from Loyola Medicine and Loyola University Chicago, USA, used data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES).

Using data from NHANES, researchers examined 12,059 participants, aged between 21 and 79 years old. Participants were interviewed between 2007 and 2012, with an alcohol consumption questionnaire used to place them into the following groups: never drinkers, non-excessive drinkers, excessive drinkers, and former excessive drinkers.

 

Excessive drinkers were defined as women who consumed more than one drink per day on average, men who consumed more than two drinks per day, and people who binge drink at least once per month. Binge drinking was defined as four or more drinks per drinking session for women and five or more drinks for men.

 

From their US sample of data, 26.9 percent of participants were found to be excessive drinkers.

 

After taking into account factors such as asthma, smoking and diet, the results showed that nitric oxide levels decreased across the groups as alcohol consumption increased, with excessive drinkers showing the lowest level of nitric oxide in their exhaled breath when compared to adults who never drink.

 

Most importantly, the team found that the more alcohol consumed by an excessive drinker, the lower the level of nitric oxide. As Nitric oxide protects against bacteria that cause respiratory infections, researchers added that the results also suggest that excessive alcohol consumption disrupts the healthy balance in the lung.

 

Further investigations are needed to in order to better understand the relationship between the nitric oxide levels and alcohol consumption.