Women Who Drink Beer May be at Risk for Psoriasis

New research suggest that women who drink regular beer may be at elevated danger for getting psoriasis.

When evaluating the type of beverage, there was a connection between non-light beer and psoriasis. Women who drank at least five beers per week were 1.8 times as likely to get psoriasis compared to women who never consumed alcohol.

The researchers studied information from nearly 83,000 women, who were 27 to 44 years old. The research confirmed that women who drank five beers a week doubled their chance of getting psoriasis. During 2005, the women had reported 1,150 diagnoses. A team of researchers utilized 1,069 of them for research and found that women who reported averaging at least 2.3 beverages per week had a 72 percent better chance of psoriasis than women who did not drink. Yet, they also determined no connection between psoriasis risk and light beer, red wine, white wine or liquor.

Psoriasis is the most prevalent autoimmune disease in the U.S., according to the National Psoriasis Foundation. The National Institutes of Health states that as many as 7.5 million Americans (2.2% of the population) have psoriasis, with 125 million individuals around the globe impacted. It is more prevalent among Caucasians (2.5%) than African Americans (1.3%).

“Women with a high risk of psoriasis may consider avoiding higher intake of non-light beer,” the authors conclude. “We suggest conducting further investigations into the potential mechanisms of non-light beer inducing new-onset psoriasis.”