What happens to your asthma if you drink alcohol?

Research has been mixed with some studies showing benefit and others showing alcohol makes asthma worse. On the benefit side, alcohol may:

• Directly act on the smooth muscle of your lungs causing bronchodilation.
• Decrease airway sensitivity making triggers less irritative to your airways
• Depress your immune system and decrease antibody production

On the other hand, as many as 33% of asthmatics report developing symptoms following alcohol consumption. While a number of different alcoholic drinks caused symptoms, wine was by far the biggest culprit. While sulfites are known to trigger asthma in susceptible individuals and are in high quantities in may types of wine, other components of wine may also cause asthma exacerbations.

If you plan to have a holiday drink in celebration of the new year, you might do better with something you have had before. Make sure you know how it might affect your asthma and, as always, be prepared.

Does alcohol effect your asthma? What do you about it. Leave a comment here or go to the forum to participate in the discussion.

Happy New Year!!!

Sources

Robin Cuddy, Guohua Li. The role of alcohol in asthma: A review of clinical and experimental studies. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, Volume 19, Issue 6, October 2001.

Learn More About Asthma Research

• Do Asthma Specialists Improve Quality Care in Asthma?
• Asthma Inhaler- Can One Asthma Inhaler Treat My Asthma?
• What Is the Relationship Between Asthma and GERD?
• Find An Asthma Clinical Trial

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