'Booze butt' is bizarre side-effect you've likely never heard of
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: ArLawKa AungTun/Getty Images
Despite what social media will tell you, there really is no ‘right way’ when it comes to wellness. Everyone’s version of living their best life is slightly different.
For many, a ‘healthy lifestyle’ means prioritising sleep hygiene, abstaining from fast-food, and never consuming alcoholic drinks.
Others meanwhile will be more drawn to balance; throwing in the odd deep-pan pizza, and enjoying a tipple or two after work with their friends.
According to statistics published in December, the average UK adult consumed 10.2 alcoholic drinks a week in 2024.
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The NHS recommends spreading your hard beverages out across seven days, but many people are likely to ignore warnings and sup on these all in one go.
This is called binge drinking, and it can cause you to wake up the next morning with a righteous hangover, or even worse ‘booze butt’.
Regular symptoms of drinking too much include: extreme thirst and dehydration, dizziness, extreme tiredness, and, in some cases, nausea.
These drinking downsides can last from a few hours to a few days - but they’re not the only issues you should be worrying about.
There’s a condition colloquially referred to as ‘booze butt’, and believe us: it’s really not pleasant.
Andrew Black, an Oklahoma-based gastroenterologist, recently informed Men’s Health readers that hangovers can sometimes cause serious diarrhoea.
The Cleveland Clinic categorises diarrhoea as having ‘loose, watery stool during a bowel movement’.
According to Black, this nasty experience can take place after drinking because booze irritates the lining of intestines.
The more alcohol you drink, the more your insides are likely to be affected.
Eventually, muscle contractions will become so strong and frequent that the use to use the bathroom to pass a loose stool will be overwhelming.
‘Booze butt’ therefore is a coined phrase to described when ‘too much fluid [is] exiting, too little [is] being absorbed, and the gut [is] working overtime to push things out the door,' Black confirmed.
If you’re not deep in the trenches of Dry January right now, and you want to continue drinking without suffering ‘booze butt’, then there are some strict rules to follow.
First, try your best not to drink more than two alcoholic beverages per day, the doctor said.
The NHS recommends that men should not regularly drink more than 3-4 units of alcohol a day, while women should stick to around 2-3 units a day.
Black also suggested drinking water between cocktails to avoid booze butt, and to line your stomach with food before hitting the bottle.
The latter idea has been backed up by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), who say drinking alcohol on an empty stomach speeds up the absorption of alcohol into the blood.
Meanwhile Johns Hopkins University explained that consuming food when drinking increases the rate of alcohol elimination from the bloodstream by around 25-45 per cent.
BBC Good Food recommends eating fatty foods, eggs, and greek yoghurt before boozing.
If booze butt is a regular occurrence for you, then Alcohol Change UK is on hand to help you indulge a little bit less.
The checklist includes scheduling alcohol-free days around your drinking session, keeping track of how much you’re consuming, and choosing smaller glasses of lower strength beverages.
For more information, see the Alcohol Change UK website.
Please drink responsibly. If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support.