2008 Woodie Awards
Reports: College boozing may lead to problems later
Brittney Berget - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 5/2/07 Section: Metro
Next time UI students head to downtown Iowa City to spend the night drinking, they might want to think twice before consuming too many of their favorite cocktails.
More and more researchers are finding that heavy drinking can lead to a plethora of health problems, including increased risk of influenza and heart disease later in life, even for college-age students.
For instance, UI pathology Assistant Professor David Meyerholz found that excessive alcohol consumption has been linked with reduced ability for the body's immune systems to fight infection - a study presented at Experimental Biology 2007 on April 28 in Washington, D.C. By using mice, the researchers found that alcohol altered a body's ability to fight influenza.
"We currently have a large research group working to understand the effects chronic drinking can have on the immune system," Meyerholz said, adding that his research is more relevant regarding the recent public attention to bird flu.
More studies are being conducted at the UI Carver College of Medicine to see how alcohol affects one's immune system.
"What we've found could open the doors to understand how chronic alcohol use affects the immune-response system," Meyerholz said.
And alcohol can lead to even bigger problems than contracting the flu.
A study presented at the American Heart Association's eighth-annual conference found that heavy drinking among college students can increase the risk of heart disease - the No. 1 cause of death in the United States -later in life.
The research, conducted by Elizabeth Donovan, a senior at St. Benedict College in St. Joseph, Minn., studied 25 college-aged students. Donovan and her team found that heavy drinkers had higher levels of C-reactive protein, which can eventually lead to an increased risk of heart disease.
"I was really surprised by what we discovered," said Donovan, who conducted the study for her senior research project. "Finding that the same type of trend affects college-age students the same way it does older adults was unexpected."
Donovan said she separated the students in her survey into three categories: students who consumed little to no alcohol, students who consumed a moderate amount, and students who were heavy drinkers. Individuals with slightly lower levels of C-reactive protein were those who drank moderately - reinforcing the fact that alcohol in moderation can have health benefits, specifically for the heart.
Amy Olson, a professor of nutrition at St. Benedict who assisted Donovan in her study, said students don't need to stop drinking altogether.
"If students have a good diet, moderate drinking isn't necessarily a bad thing," she said.
Edwin Haycraft, a counselor on substance abuse at the UI Student Health Service, said a majority of students don't think about the future of their health.
"What students do when they're younger does affect how they'll feel when they're old," he said. "It's sometimes hard for people to think ahead."
Although the sample size of Donovan's study was small, he said, it still matters. A lot of students feel they can walk away from the bar scene once they graduate from college, but in reality, it's setting up a predisposition for substance abuse, he said.
"We're in the Upper Midwest part of the country," Haycraft said. "We have some of the highest drinking rates in America, so this is a problem that really hits home."
E-mail DI reporter Brittney Berget at:
brittney-berget@uiowa.edu
What UI researcher David Meyerholz has found
- Mice who consumer large amounts of alcohol are more likely to contract pneumonia as well as influenza respiratory disease.
- Previous research has found excessive alcohol use is linked with alterations in the immune system.
- Additional studies are now being conducted to see how chronic alcohol exposure can affect the severity of influenza.
More and more researchers are finding that heavy drinking can lead to a plethora of health problems, including increased risk of influenza and heart disease later in life, even for college-age students.
For instance, UI pathology Assistant Professor David Meyerholz found that excessive alcohol consumption has been linked with reduced ability for the body's immune systems to fight infection - a study presented at Experimental Biology 2007 on April 28 in Washington, D.C. By using mice, the researchers found that alcohol altered a body's ability to fight influenza.
"We currently have a large research group working to understand the effects chronic drinking can have on the immune system," Meyerholz said, adding that his research is more relevant regarding the recent public attention to bird flu.
More studies are being conducted at the UI Carver College of Medicine to see how alcohol affects one's immune system.
"What we've found could open the doors to understand how chronic alcohol use affects the immune-response system," Meyerholz said.
And alcohol can lead to even bigger problems than contracting the flu.
A study presented at the American Heart Association's eighth-annual conference found that heavy drinking among college students can increase the risk of heart disease - the No. 1 cause of death in the United States -later in life.
The research, conducted by Elizabeth Donovan, a senior at St. Benedict College in St. Joseph, Minn., studied 25 college-aged students. Donovan and her team found that heavy drinkers had higher levels of C-reactive protein, which can eventually lead to an increased risk of heart disease.
"I was really surprised by what we discovered," said Donovan, who conducted the study for her senior research project. "Finding that the same type of trend affects college-age students the same way it does older adults was unexpected."
Donovan said she separated the students in her survey into three categories: students who consumed little to no alcohol, students who consumed a moderate amount, and students who were heavy drinkers. Individuals with slightly lower levels of C-reactive protein were those who drank moderately - reinforcing the fact that alcohol in moderation can have health benefits, specifically for the heart.
Amy Olson, a professor of nutrition at St. Benedict who assisted Donovan in her study, said students don't need to stop drinking altogether.
"If students have a good diet, moderate drinking isn't necessarily a bad thing," she said.
Edwin Haycraft, a counselor on substance abuse at the UI Student Health Service, said a majority of students don't think about the future of their health.
"What students do when they're younger does affect how they'll feel when they're old," he said. "It's sometimes hard for people to think ahead."
Although the sample size of Donovan's study was small, he said, it still matters. A lot of students feel they can walk away from the bar scene once they graduate from college, but in reality, it's setting up a predisposition for substance abuse, he said.
"We're in the Upper Midwest part of the country," Haycraft said. "We have some of the highest drinking rates in America, so this is a problem that really hits home."
E-mail DI reporter Brittney Berget at:
brittney-berget@uiowa.edu
What UI researcher David Meyerholz has found
- Mice who consumer large amounts of alcohol are more likely to contract pneumonia as well as influenza respiratory disease.
- Previous research has found excessive alcohol use is linked with alterations in the immune system.
- Additional studies are now being conducted to see how chronic alcohol exposure can affect the severity of influenza.
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