Alcohol is a toxic substance that can cause dependence and other negative health effects. Alcohol is a toxic substance that can cause dependence alongside a range of other negative health effects.
Participant information, including education, income, marriage status, and lifestyle behaviors, were obtained during in-person interviews. The National Health Insurance research database comprises medical information of nearly 99% of Taiwanese people, including ambulatory and inpatient care. AKF works on behalf of 1 in 7 Americans living with kidney disease, and the millions more at risk, to support people wherever they are in their fight against kidney disease — from prevention through post-transplant living. To keep the kidneys functioning optimally and to maintain functional stability (i.e., homeostasis) in the body, a variety of regulatory mechanisms exert their influence.
- This article describes how alcohol may harm the kidneys and considers the level of alcohol consumption necessary to cause harm.
- 2The terms “alcoholic patient” and “alcoholism” as used in this article are summary terms for the diagnoses of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence as defined variously by the studies cited.
- The survey questions did not distinguish non-drinkers and former drinkers, and former drinkers were categorized as non-drinkers.
- The link between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and kidney injury is intriguing but controversial, and the molecular mechanisms by which alcohol may damage the kidneys are poorly understood.
- In response, reabsorption of phosphate diminishes and excretion in urine increases in an effort to return blood levels of this ion to normal.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages
This can cause a sudden drop in kidney function known as “acute kidney injury.” When this happens, dialysis is needed until a person’s kidney function returns to normal. Acute kidney injury usually goes away in time, but in some cases, it can addiction art therapy ideas lead to lasting kidney damage. Drinking alcohol heavily can have several long-term health consequences including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. This doubles your risk of developing chronic kidney disease or long-term kidney damage. Even without binge drinking, regularly drinking too much too often can also damage the kidneys. Regular heavy drinking has been found to double the risk chronic kidney disease, which does not go away over time.
According to a 2017 review, the question of whether alcohol consumption affects kidney function remains controversial. What about the kidney pain some people claim to feel after a night of drinking? According to Dr. Bobart, there’s no research to suggest a does alcohol bother gallbladder link between alcohol and kidney pain.
“Binge” drinking has harmful effects on the kidney that can even lead to acute kidney failure. This often goes away after a time, but it can occasionally lead to lasting kidney damage. Alcoholic patients also may develop low blood levels of phosphate by excreting too much of this ion into their urine. Typically, chronic alcoholic patients are losing up to 1.5 g/d of phosphate through their urine when they have reached the point of being sick enough to accept hospitalization. The combination of low phosphate excretion and low blood levels indicates that phosphate is simply being shifted from the bloodstream into body cells, implying that kidney dysfunction is not a likely cause of phosphate wasting in this case. Binge drinking (usually more than four to five drinks within two hours) can raise a person’s blood alcohol to dangerous levels.
It’s not as simple as one drink, one unit
Oxidative stress occurs when the body cannot detoxify free radicals as fast as they are being produced, and it is pivotal in triggering alcohol-related tissue injury. Studies suggest that several mechanisms produce ROS in alcohol-damaged organs, including the liver (Cederbaum et al. 2009), heart (Tan et al. 2012; Varga et al. 2015), and kidney (Latchoumycandane et al. 2015). CYP2E1 is of particular interest when thinking about potential mechanisms for alcohol-related kidney damage. The body mainly metabolizes alcohol using the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which is expressed primarily in the liver. However, during chronic ethanol consumption, the body also uses CYP2E1 in the liver as well as the kidneys. Interestingly, studies find that CYP2E1 induction is much more robust in the kidneys compared with the liver (Roberts et al. 1994; Zerilli et al. 1995).
Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease: A Nationwide Observational Cohort Study
Although some exceptions exist, several historical studies have reported similar modest reductions in sodium and potassium excretion following alcohol use. As the plasma filtrate passes along this channel, the substances the body needs to conserve are reabsorbed into an extensive network of capillaries that wrap the nephron tubule. Small amounts of unwanted substances also are secreted directly into the nephron tubules. Together, the filtered and secreted substances form urine (see figure) and eventually trickle into a series of progressively larger collecting ducts. Each 4.5-inch-long kidney contains about 250 of the largest collecting ducts, each duct transmitting urine from approximately 4,000 nephrons. Liver disease makes you susceptible to pain or discomfort after drinking alcohol.
The good news is that you can prevent this by not drinking too much alcohol. Having more than three drinks in a day (or more than seven per week) for women, and more than four drinks in a day (or more than 14 per week) for men, is considered “heavy” drinking. Heavy drinking on a regular basis has been found to double the risk for kidney disease. Although fluid overload—not alcohol itself—is considered the major contributor to beer drinkers’ hyponatremia, alcohol does appear to directly influence the kidney’s handling of sodium and other electrolytes, potentially resulting in hypernatremia. In a study by Rubini and colleagues (1955), subjects who consistently drank about 4 ounces (oz) of 100-proof bourbon whiskey experienced decreased sodium, potassium, and chloride excretion (i.e., increased retention of solutes).
(For an in-depth discussion of alcohol and the digestive tract, see the article by Keshavarzian in this issue.) The direct role of alcohol-related endotoxin release in alcoholic kidney injury has not yet been studied. However, it is possible that activation of the innate immune system due to endotoxins released by a leaky gut plays a central role in the development of renal damage, as it does for liver damage (Zhang et al. 2008). Excessive alcohol consumption can have profound negative effects on the kidneys and their function in maintaining the body’s fluid, electrolyte, and acid-base balance, leaving alcoholic people vulnerable to a host of kidney-related health problems. Despite the clinical importance of alcohol’s effects on the kidney, however, relatively few recent studies have been conducted to characterize them or elucidate their pathophysiology. It is hoped that future investigations will focus on this important subject area.
Among the most important substances contributing to these conditions are water, sodium, potassium, calcium, and phosphate. Loss or retention of any one of these substances can influence the body’s handling of the others. In addition, hydrogen ion concentration (i.e., acid-base balance) influences cell structure and permeability as well as the rate of metabolic reactions. The amounts of these substances must be held within very narrow limits, regardless of the large variations possible in their intake or loss.
Nitric oxide synthase stimulates the production of nitric oxide, which, if produced excessively, can react with other molecules and create free radicals that trigger tissue damage in the kidneys (Pacher et al. 2007; Szalay et al. 2015). Tirapelli and colleagues (2012) showed that ethanol consumption increased the expression of two nitric oxide synthases. However, it is still unclear exactly how ethanol upregulates nitric oxide synthases, or whether it does so directly or indirectly. It may be that toxins released from the intestines into blood circulation because of ethanol’s effects on the digestive system activate the expression of nitric oxide synthase. Another theory suggests that both enzymes may undergo the process of uncoupling due to oxidation or lack of critical coenzymes (e.g., tetrahydrobiopterin).
6. Study Design
Within each nephron, blood plasma enters a tiny ball of unusually permeable capillaries (i.e., the glomerulus), filters into a capsule that surrounds the glomerulus, then flows through a long, looping conduit called the nephron tubule. To treat liver disease, you may be advised to stop drinking alcohol, lose weight, and follow a nutritional diet. Kidneys are essential to keeping the body healthy and free of harmful substances such as alcohol. The kidneys also maintain the proper balance of fluid and electrolytes. You may have kidney pain after drinking alcohol due to dehydration or inflammation of your stomach lining.
For severely alcoholic patients who eat poorly, such a nutritional deficit may be an important contributor to hypophosphatemia. If you experience kidney pain after drinking alcohol, it’s essential that you pay attention to your body and what it’s telling you. You may need to take a complete break from alcohol for a set amount of time or reduce the amount of alcohol you consume. If you have UPJ obstruction, you may have kidney pain after drinking alcohol.
Investigators have not yet fully explained the mechanisms underlying this wide range of abnormalities, though, and have devoted little attention to alcohol’s effects on kidney hemodynamics in people who do not have liver disease. The events leading tom arnold weight loss to abnormal sodium handling in patients with cirrhosis are complex and controversial, however. Investigators have advanced several theories suggesting the involvement of a constellation of hormonal, neural, and hemodynamic mechanisms (Epstein 1996; Laffi et al. 1996).