A new study reveals some important health issues saying that regular drinking can weaken the pancreas ability to absorb Vitamin C, predisposing the body pancreatitis and other pancreatic diseases.
Enzymes used to digest food are released by pancreas and hormones such as insulin that are needed to store energy from food. Digestive problems, diabetes, and malnutrition are caused due to pancreatic damage.
Vitamin C levels are reduced and other essential micronutrients involve the normal cellular activities in pancreas said the lead researcher Hamid Said from the University of California, Irvine in the US.
“This may sensitize the pancreas to a secondary insult, predisposing it to the development of pancreatitis and other pancreatic diseases,” Hamid explained.
In American Journal of Physiology under Cell Physiology reports are published in American Journal of Physiology. Pancreatic cells take energy from the blood stream and require some number of vitamins.
The research team identified the Sodium-dependent Vitamin C transporter 2 which is responsible for transporting vitamin C into pancreatic cells. They also investigated whether alcohol exposure interfered with pancreas absorption of Vitamin C.
Then the researchers exposed mouse pancreatic cells to alcohol which is as same as blood alcohol concentration of chronic alcoholics. Finally, they found both the pancreatic cells directly exposed to alcohol and pancreatic cells from alcohol-fed mice with a lower number of SVCT-2.