Medical literature for practitioners and patients describes alcohol as a psoriasis trigger. Most of the studies and reviews conducted in the past decades support a detrimental impact of alcohol consumption on psoriasis, especially in male patients [4;19;180-187]. In addition to the finding of a clear dose-response relationship [187-189], the prevalence of psoriasis among alcoholics was between two and ten times greater than in the general population [180;190-192]. In one recent study, between 17% and 30% of patients with psoriasis (depending on the measure of alcohol consumption) were classified as having difficulties with alcohol [193]. However, part of the association between alcohol and psoriasis could alternatively be attributed to higher alcohol consumption as a consequence of the disease [180;194]. Abstinence from alcohol was found to be related to psoriasis remission, whereas restarting alcohol consumption has been associated with the recurrence of psoriasis [195;196]. Alcohol consumption is also associated with less favourable responses to treatment and decreased compliance with the treatment of psoriasis [197;198].
