Alcohol in pancreatitis: drink or live?

To answer two main questions – is alcohol allowed with pancreatitis and what kind of alcohol is allowed with pancreatitis – it should be remembered that alcohol abuse is the main cause of inflammation of the pancreas, and two-thirds of cases of chronic pancreatitis are diagnosed in lovers of alcoholic beverages.

Harm of alcohol in pancreatitis

The fact that ethyl alcohol, i.e. alcohol, is very harmful for pancreatitis is a fact confirmed by clinical studies. So, you shouldn’t even ask yourself whether vodka is allowed for pancreatitis, whether beer is allowed for pancreatitis, or what kind of wine is allowed for pancreatitis.

Most attacks of acute pancreatitis pass quite quickly and do not seem to cause irreparable damage to the pancreas, which produces not only digestive enzymes, but also such important hormones as insulin and glucagon.

However, every fifth case of acute pancreatitis entails serious consequences in the form of severe oxidative stress of organ cells and death (necrosis) of acinar cells, as well as exposure of the body to endogenous toxins with cerebral edema and renal failure.

According to the World Journal Gastroenterology, one-third of acute pancreatitis cases in Americans are caused by alcohol, and 75-80% of patients with pancreatitis have a history of regular alcohol consumption, including beer. And in the UK, which drinks moderately, about 22,000 people are hospitalized with acute pancreatitis each year, and about a thousand of them die from the disease.

But even when the inflammation of the pancreas has a different origin, its acini undergo degeneration - fibrous degeneration - and largely lose the ability to perform their functions. What is the effect of alcohol, which is oxidized in the liver with the formation of acetaldehyde (acetaldehyde)?

In the case of drinking alcoholic beverages during inflammation of the pancreas, its ducts narrow, the tone of the sphincters of the hepatopancreatic ampulla also increases, and as a result, pancreatic juice does not reach the duodenum and accumulates, leading to an aggravation of necrotic processes inside the pancreas - under the action of its own enzymes.

And all this against the background of a significant increase in the secretory activity of the stomach and an increase in the synthesis of pancreatic secretion, which is facilitated by serotonin, the release of which into the blood will increase under the influence of ethyl alcohol.

Beer lovers are not recommended to drink even non-alcoholic beer with pancreatitis: it contains carbon dioxide, which increases intestinal peristalsis, as well as carbohydrate components, which require more insulin produced by the pancreas. And approximately one third of people with chronic pancreatitis also have diabetes (due to damage to the β-cells that synthesize this hormone).

Doctors remind that in order to improve the condition of the pancreas and maintain its ability to participate in digestion, it is necessary to follow a diet for pancreatitis. So neither white wine for pancreatitis, nor red dry wine, which is good for heart patients, should be drunk for pancreatitis: wines, although in small quantities, contain ethanol, which is formed during the fermentation process.

In case of acute pancreatitis, even if it was not caused by alcohol, it is completely forbidden to drink alcohol of any strength for at least six months – to give the pancreas a chance to “recover”.

It should be taken into account that necrosis of the pancreatic acini is irreversible, and if you continue to drink alcohol, the pain will become stronger, the physiological resource of this organ is exhausted faster, and the risk of death from complications increases threefold.

Every patient with inflammation of the pancreas needs to radically change their approach to the problem of alcohol in pancreatitis, because in their case they will have to decide what is more important to them: to drink or to live…