One of the impacts of the modern lifestyle is that we spend more and more time outside our homes, which affects our normal dietary regimes. If you are not careful about what you consume, this may lead to an abundance of cholesterol in your organism, resulting in gallstones. These gallstones can have a myriad of consequences for your body, ranging from physical injuries of the gallbladder wall, to blocking the passage of the bile, leading to gallbladder inflammation.
As the gallbladder's main function is to collect and further distribute the bile produced by the liver between meals, the patients who have undergone the procedure usually aren’t required to take any medications in order to continue with their normal lives. The liver still produces bile, albeit it less concentrated, and drains directly into the intestines. What effects does this have when it comes to alcohol intolerance?
The effects of alcohol on bile metabolism
So far, we’ve concluded that the gallbladder doesn’t have a direct role in alcohol metabolism. Although, contrary to earlier beliefs, a study from 2019 implied that moderate alcohol consumption actually decreases the risk of gallstone formation. This mechanism is still not yet fully explained, but it seems that it is to do with alcohol lowering cholesterol levels, even though it was implied that alcohol may slow down the emptying of the gallbladder, but this remains to be further analyzed.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should drink alcohol on a daily basis, since you are already familiar with the fact that alcohol presents a known risk for all kinds of health issues. Since alcohol severely affects the liver, this counts for decreased bile acid secretion, and since the liver and the gallbladder are working together, it is safe to expect that a damaged liver will eventually lead to changes in bile secretion.
Therefore, while talking about the subject, we will mainly concentrate on patients with a normally functioning liver, and focus on the effects of small amounts of alcohol in patients who had a cholecystectomy.
So, you got your gallbladder removed. Cheers?
Laparoscopic surgery of the gallbladder means a much shorter intrahospital recovery; patients are often released from the hospital the same day, prescribed some painkillers, and return to normal activities within two weeks. With open surgery, this period may last up to two months, after spending a few days in the hospital bed.
There are some side effects to this procedure, such as pain, bloating, flatulence, and diarrhea, but these are usually temporary, and regulated by the postoperative medications prescribed.
The general consensus is that you should be cautious when consuming liquor for the first three years, but many health experts actually recommend lifelong abstinence from alcohol, alongside a strict diet. This includes avoidance of fatty and spicy food, as well as soft drinks.
What are the negative effects of alcohol consumption in patients who had their gallbladder removed?
In patients with a healthy gallbladder, the amount of excreted bile is directly proportional to the amount of food eaten. If the gallbladder is removed, the body simply doesn’t have a way to collect bile for future use, as the small bile ducts remaining try to compensate for excretion. When inside the organism, alcohol leads these ducts to contract, which further compromises bile flow. The same goes for pancreatic ducts, meaning that alcohol also has a role in pancreatitis development.
Since alcohol, alongside fatty, greasy, or food high in fiber become harder to digest without a gallbladder, this might manifest as gas, bloating, or diarrhea in a number of patients. If you happen to notice any symptoms regarding specific food, you are encouraged to talk with your doctor, in order for them to suggest some medications in order to treat them.
Some patients have indeed complained that their alcohol tolerance is different after their surgery, and although the current professional view is that gallbladder removal doesn’t correlate with the body’s ability to process alcohol, and that this connection is very unlikely. However, recent studies performed in mice have suggested that basal metabolism rate in these animals has increased up to 25 percent, and if this data transfers to humans, this could potentially be the reason why some individuals are metabolizing alcohol in a different way than before the surgery. So, to get the proper answer to the question if gallbladder removal surgery has important metabolic implications for humans, unfortunately, we will have to wait.
So, in conclusion, as long as your liver is functional, and you don’t have any preexisting gastrointestinal conditions, such as acid reflux or ulcers, consuming alcohol in moderate amounts should not present problems when it comes to digestion after the removal of the gallbladder.
Having said that, if you do notice that alcohol does not agree with you after you had your gallbladder removed and even after the recovery period, it is — of course — wise to abstain.