Long-term alcohol consumption may disturb the normal gut microbiota distribution and tight junction protein expression, leading to increases in intestinal permeability and endotoxemia, which cause downstream NF-κB activation and proinflammatory cytokine secretion through upregulation of the TLR4–MyD88 pathway [10,41]. This evidence concerns the gene NFKB1 and serum lipopolysaccharide activity.