The A-Files, Alcohol A-Z for Alcohol Awareness Month: Skin Damage

(See video and online article)

Twenty-six episodes of 'The A-Files' air throughout Alcohol Awareness Month on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Alcohologist.com and AddictedMinds.com, among other web and social media sites. Episode S looks at skin damage created or worsened by alcohol use. Compared with people who never drink, people who drink are 20 percent more likely to get skin cancer. As alcohol intake goes up, so did the danger—light drinking was associated with a 10 percent increase in melanoma risk…and heavy drinking was associated with a 55 percent increase in risk (see the full study).

Assume that people who are imbibing at the beach or ballgame don’t want to interrupt their fun, so they don’t bother to refresh their sunscreen…or else they’re so bombed that they’re clueless about how sunburned they’re getting. Both assumptions may be accurate. What research at the University of Berlin found in 2012 is that alcohol consumption significantly reduces the level of protective antioxidants in the skin, leading to faster burning in the sun.

Alcohol use also helps age the skin prematurely. Blame the dehydrating role alcohol plays in all organs – the skin being the largest organ. Delicate facial skin that's dry from the inside out wrinkles more quickly than normally moist skin does. Skin also can take on a grayish tone since alcohol also robs the body of vitamin A. Vitamin A is also extremely important in the production of collagen. When you have lower amounts of collagen, you lose elasticity in your skin. Collagen and elasticity are what keep your skin looking young.

Drinking alcohol also is one of the main culprits of rosacea, a skin condition that causes redness. More than half of 1,066 patients surveyed by the National Rosacea Society cited alcohol consumption as the primary trigger for a surge in their condition. And, it's not just people with the disorder who run the risk of unwanted, permanent redness. Alcohol increases blood flow and dilates the tiny capillaries closest to the outer layer of your skin, it sometimes does it in such volume that they burst, causing unsightly, permanently broken capillaries on the face. The bottom line is that drinking will cause both accelerated aging – in which symptoms of aging appear earlier – and exaggerated aging, in which the symptoms appear at the appropriate time but in a more dramatic form. The more you drink in excess, the more you’re speeding up the clock.

The entire 26 episode HD series is available on disc, along with fact sheets, for helping professions. See the preorder special at tr.im/AFiles

Visit alcohologist.com for a replay of CBS Sports' Power Up Your Health featuring Scott Stevens.  Another interview is on Alcohol Awareness.  Syndicated radio program Savvy Central Radio did this interview, too. Lucy Pireel's "All That's Written" included a feature called "When alcohol doesn't work for you anymore."  Details on the third literary award for Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud and the first for Adding Fire to the Fuel also can be found on www.alcohologist.com. Download the FREE Alcohology app in the Google PlayStore today. Stevens also is the public relations officer with AddictedMinds.com 

SATURDAY REWIND: More alcohol means more sunburn

Temperatures reached the 80's in parts of America's Heartland this past week. Pasty-white Midwesterners, and I count myself among the winter pale, finally had the warmth of the sun for the first time in what seem like ages. (Sorry about the snow that, the very next day, rearranged a few thoughts of warmth.) My beak and forehead got a little red from the sun... not the first time, nor is it likely the last. I went back to my archive and found this piece as a reminder of how drinking alcohol can contribute to worse skin damage in the sunny months ahead.

 

Alcohol consumption significantly reduces the level of protective antioxidants in the skin, leading to faster burning in the sun, according to a study reported in this week’s Dermatology Times. The Berlin, Germany, study demonstrated that simultaneously consuming antioxidant-rich food and drinks may help to mitigate this effect. This is of concern to alcohol abusers and those with the disease of alcoholism who get too much sun, particularly those in warmer climes or those who have outdoor occupations.

The study focuses on antioxidant substances called carotenoids, which come from consuming diets rich in natural foods, such as fruits and vegetables – two things people with alcohol use disorders are not known for consuming anyway.

What researchers at the Center of Experimental and Applied Cutaneous Physiology, University of Berlin, examined was the effect of alcohol intake on carotenoid concentration in the skin and whether drinking a carotenoid-rich drink would counteract the effects of alcohol (as in drinking orange juice with the vodka). Skins with lower levels of carotenoids were more susceptible to burning. Sunburn has been linked skin cancer for at least three decades.

Carotenoid concentration decreased after consumption of alcohol and alcohol plus orange juice; however, the decrease after alcohol alone was significantly greater. The concentration drop occurred about eight minutes after alcohol without the O.J. and lasted about 70 minutes. The decrease following alcohol plus orange juice occurred about 45 minutes later and lasted about 90 minutes.

“A decrease in the carotenoid concentration in the skin after alcohol consumption can have far-reaching consequences concerning the self-protection mechanism of the skin,” the authors wrote.
– from examiner.com


Alcohol misuse is tied to several types of cancer inside the skin, preventing cancers of the skin on a sunny day is something even sober people don't do diligently. If you're inclined to drink, respect the risk and slather on the SPF 30 because the alcohol makes you more exposed than commonly believed. Don't forget the tops of the ears, a vulnerable area while boating or golfing, drinking or not.

Two things not mentioned by the German researchers:
a) Alcohol dulls sensation. With the skin already being vulnerable due to alcohol depleting protective carotenoids, heavy drinking increases the risk because the skin's owner cannot feel the burn that would otherwise warn him or her that it's time to cover up. 
b) Drinking doesn't go hand-in-hand with good judgment. It's remarkable how much effort is made to protect the ice-packed cooler from the sun, but applying and reapplying sunblock to protect the skin from the sun and an alarmingly common cancer isn't top-of-mind.
www.alcohologist.com