Binge drinking is really bad for your health and you do not need to be an alcoholic to engage in this behavior. Just think of all of those college kids binge drinking at frat parties or when partying on a beach somewhere on spring break. Now, a new, basic animal research study, presented this week at the American Heart Association’s Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Scientific Sessions 2024, may help explain why binge drinking sometimes causes an irregular heartbeat and a possible way to prevent it.
Binge drinking is defined as consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time. While the exact number of drinks varies by gender and body size, it typically involves consuming enough alcohol to raise your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or higher. This can happen quickly, often within a couple of hours.
Binge drinking is associated with numerous health risks, such as impaired judgment, coordination, and reaction time; increased risk of accidents and injuries; blackouts and even alcohol poisoning. In the long-term there could be liver damage, heart disease, high blood pressure, increased risk of certain cancers, mental health issues, and addiction.
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In the new study that used mice, researchers found that abnormal heart rhythms that can occur after a pattern of repeated simulation of binge drinking may be related to a spike in a stress protein found in the heart. The researchers tested a heart protective molecule to reduce the stress protein spike and the resulting irregular heart rhythms.
The study found more than 70% of the mice that were given alcohol mimicking binge drinking developed atrial fibrillation (AFib), compared with none of those who also received the investigational cardiac protective agent Alda. Exposure to binge drinking levels of alcohol doubled levels of JNK2 (one of the isoforms of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) family of proteins) activity compared to a control group that did not mimic binge-drinking. This activated JNK2 increased the AFib susceptibility in the mouse models mimicking binge drinking. Both JNK2 enzyme activity and calcium handling remained normal in the heart cells of the mice treated with Alda-1.
“Around the holidays, opportunities for celebration – often accompanied by heavy drinking – occur during a brief period of time. Unfortunately, this sometimes sends revelers, even those with no previous heart condition, to the hospital with a racing or abnormally beating heart,” said Saugat Khanal, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a post-doctoral scholar in the Department of Physiology & Cell Biology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. “Our study in mice explored the mechanism of alcohol-induced arrhythmia and a possible way to prevent it in the future.”
“Repeated binge drinking can lead to serious arrhythmias. This includes AFib, which is the most common type of arrhythmia,” added Khanal. “AFib can raise the risk of stroke and heart failure. About one-third of new AFib diagnoses are related to alcohol use. Recurrence of AFib is common in habitual binge drinkers. The link between repeated binge drinking and arrhythmia at times of celebration is so well-known that medical professionals call it holiday heart syndrome which is caused by repeated binge drinking over the holidays.”
