A Drink Or Two Can Boost Your Immunity Too

A recent study in Vaccine shows that consuming a small amount of alcohol can help boost someone’s immunity, but one New York emergency medicine physician says further investigations into this claim need to be made.

“It is postulated that in ‘moderate’ amounts – one to two glasses of wine or the equivalent daily -- alcohol inhibits or suppresses ‘stress’ reactions, thus resulting in lower blood pressure and improved psychological sense of well being,” says Alan Kaplan, MD, director of emergency medicine at Plainview Hospital. “The key is when does it become ‘too much’ alcohol and then the deleterious effects occur, both in the short term (cognitive impairment) and long term (liver disease).”

Dr. Kaplan notes that while the immunity boost from alcohol seems plausible to him, that this was a small study of a dozen monkeys and would require further testing to prove the relationship between alcohol and immunity.