Health - Alcohol's Effects on B12 Absorption

Alcohol's Effects on B12 Absorption

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Excessive alcohol consumption can cause irreversible neurological damage.

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Overuse of alcohol can cause health problems beyond the obvious ones such as liver disease and a weakened immune system. Excessive alcohol consumption depletes the body of essential vitamins, such as B-12, by damaging the systems that aid in the absorption process.

Intestinal Absorption

1. Excessive alcohol consumption damages the intestines and stomach. This can result in too little stomach acid or weakened villi and microvilli (tiny hairlike structures in the digestive tract) that absorb nutrients in the food you eat. When stomach acids are functioning properly, they free B-12 and allow it to be absorbed. However, when the stomach or intestines are compromised, nutrients such as B-12 pass through the body as waste without being absorbed.

Anemia

2. Pernicious anemia often afflicts alcoholics. When the body is unable to absorb vitamin B-12, it cannot make an adequate amount of blood, or the blood may be of poor quality. Thus, it begins to destroy stomach cells that aid in absorption of vitamin B-12.

Malnutrition

3. Many alcoholics or heavy drinkers replace meals with alcoholic beverages. This leads to a major loss of valuable nutrients the body needs to function. While you are drinking, your body is being depleted of B-12, and by drinking you are also preventing your body from adequately absorbing B-12 when you do ingest it, due to damage of the GI tract.

Nerves

4. After the body is deprived of B-12 for an extended period, the nervous system may become damaged if the deficiency is left untreated.