Booze is also fuel to the fire of chronic pancreatitis or inflammation of the pancreas.
According to a report in this month's Mayo Clinical Proceedings , it can be fatal. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., studied medical records, physical exams, questionnaires, and autopsies of 372 subjects diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis. They evaluated the calcification or rock-like hardening of the diseased organ. They compared the levels of reported alcohol use with the progression of the disease and its symptoms. Increasing alcohol use in the last three groups correlated to earlier inception of the disease.