A new study, published in the journal Vaccine, examined the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on the response to vaccination in rhesus macaques.  The animals were all vaccinated and given open access to alcohol for consumption.  Responses from the vaccination were recorded.  Researchers found that the animals that had moderate alcohol consumption had enhanced vaccine responses.  Chronic alcohol consumption had a suppressed vaccine response.

According to an analysis of the study in Medical News Today, this research may help lead to a better understanding of how the immune system works, and how to improve its ability to respond to vaccines and infections.  Moderate alcohol boosts the immune system and helps the body respond to vaccines, which adds another layer of understanding the mechanisms and intricacies of the human immune system.

However, additional research is needed to determine if the same effects hold in humans or if the effect changes in some way.  Researchers are also looking at how to expand or focus the studies on specific populations.  For example, vulnerable populations such as the elderly often have poor responses to vaccines or vaccines are ineffective on them.  Understanding what is boosting the immune response with alcohol consumption may be able to help these populations.

Other studies have shown alcohol consumption to have benefits beyond the immune system.  According to UCR Today, moderate alcohol consumption has long been associated in the scientific literature with a lower mortality rate.  Studies have shown wine to reduce the risk of depression and a compound in red wine that can help treat cancer.

“Moderate” consumption is critical to these findings as the benefits disappear with chronic alcohol consumption.  The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provides guidelines on the definition of moderate consumption.  For men, moderate is no more than four drinks on a single day and no more than 14 in a week.  For women, moderate is no more than three drinks on a single day and no more than seven in a week.  In contrast, binge drinking means drinking so much within about 2 hours that blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels reach 0.08g/dL. For women, this usually occurs after about 4 drinks, and for men, after about 5.

Excess alcohol consumption is a societal and health problem throughout the world, reports the British Medical Journal. Around 4% of deaths worldwide are related to alcohol, with 2.5 million deaths a year attributable to its use. Death is most commonly caused by injury, liver cirrhosis, poisoning, and malignancy.