Regular beer increases psoriasis risk in women

By drinking regular beer, women are potentially increasing their risk of developing psoriasis, a skin affecting autoimmune disorder, research discovers.

The same risk was not evident when other options, like light beer and wine, were evaluated.

For this study, 82,869 women were evaluated who had not been diagnosed with psoriasis for around 15 years, between 1991 and 2005. The women explained their personal alcohol consumption and reported whether or not a doctor had diagnosed them with psoriasis, during the study.

Research found a moderate amount of regular beer increased psoriasis risk, and just over 2 drinks per week increased the risk almost 80 percent.

Women consuming five beers per week increased the risk of psoriasis by over 200 percent when compared to those not consuming regular beer.

While some experts suggest women with a predisposed risk, family history, or some other known reason they might develop psoriasis, may want to consume something other than regular beer as their alcohol of choice, some believe additional research needs to take place to determine if a true connection exists.

Additional evidence suggests alcohol consumption does affect immune system responses, and psoriasis is an autoimmune disease. However, alcohol is evident in both wine and light beer, so the correlation between the development of psoriasis and regular beer is still under debate.

When evaluating contents of various alcoholic beverages, researchers discovered an increased amount of gluten in regular beer. Previous research has explained an association between an increase in adverse effects from psoriasis, and additional autoimmune diseases, including celiac disease.

Researchers have also discussed how treatment of psoriasis with narrow-band UV-B light can help increase the level of vitamin D to help reduce the disease.