It’s the weekend, a time to let your hair down, pour yourself a glass of wine or maybe two, and relax.
Beyond the hangover, there is one major consequence of excessive wine consumption that is often overlooked.
According to Amber O’Brien, RD at Mango Clinic, one lesser-known side effect of drinking too much wine is pancreatitis. O’Brien says pancreatitis occurs when digestive enzymes start digesting the pancreas itself, causing it to become inflamed.
“Excessive intake of wine is associated with both types of pancreatitis including acute and chronic,” says O’Brien. “If a person already has chronic pancreatitis, drinking too much wine can worsen the symptoms and lead to chronic pancreatitis.”
She references a study that outlines how drinking too much alcohol contributes to 17% to 25% of the world cases of acute pancreatitis.
In an interesting turn of events, although we know a good bit about the age-old beverage, experts are still unsure of the exact reason wine is so highly correlated with pancreatitis. What they’re more sure
of, though, is how to avoid it.
“To prevent the side effects of wine, women are advised to stick to one glass of wine (150 ml) and men should stick to 2 glasses of wine at once,” said O’Brien, before adding that “consuming wine in moderation is good for the health but drinking too much is potentially unsafe that can result in deadly side effects.”
