Jiyoung Ahn and other researchers from the New York University School of Medicine in New York City have recently focused on how alcohol impacts the bacterial microbiome of the mouth.
Their findings, now published in the journal Microbiome, indicate that although a nightly drink may delight the palate, it will likely promote the growth of harmful bacteria in the mouth while at the same time stunting the development of helpful, probiotic bacteria.
"Our study offers clear evidence that drinking is bad for maintaining a healthy balance of microbes in the mouth and could help explain why drinking, like smoking, leads to bacterial changes already tied to cancer and chronic disease."
Jiyoung Ahn
The researchers then analyzed the biological samples and combined these results with the data on the participants' drinking habits in order to understand which bacteria thrived in the oral microbiota of people who don't drink and those who do. They also explored which bacteria were prevented from developing.
Ahn and team found that alcohol consumption led to more consistent development of certain harmful bacteria in the mouth — namely, those belonging to the species Bacteroidales, Actinomyces, and Neisseria.
At the same time, healthy bacteria — such as those from the species Lactobacillales — that can help to prevent the certain diseases from taking hold could not develop properly in the oral microbiomes of drinkers.
"Drinkers," the study authors write, "had decreased abundance of order Lactobacillales [...] Other taxa [bacterial species], some of which are potentially pathogenic, were enriched with higher alcohol consumption."