Alcohol and liver disease — what’s the connection?

Everyone from your doctor to your grandmother have told you that alcohol is bad for your liver but do you know why?

By: Editorial Team | | Updated: May 21, 2014 3:54 pm

Everyone from your doctor to your grandmother have told you that alcohol is bad for your liver but do you know why? Well for that you need to understand a little bit about the liver. The liver is such a vital organ that there’s no single artificial organ that can replace it or perform all its functions. Its main task is to process nutrients from your food, process toxins and help your blood clot. It also provides glucose so that your body can function normally, so you understand just how vital an organ the liver is.

A variety of lifestyle choices can cause liver damage but the most common cause is heavy alcohol consumption. When you drink alcohol, the liver gets diverted from its other functions and focuses mainly on converting alcohol to a less toxic form. Absorption of alcohol by the liver causes fatty liver disease, inflammation of the liver and cirrhosis.

Short-term effects of alcohol consumption

When you drink, the liver works overtime to convert the alcohol into acetic acid which is then converted into acetate which we release from the body as urine. When it’s doing all this, it’s diverted from its primary purpose of providing glucose. This lack of glucose causes the effects of a hangover like nausea, vomiting, headaches and fatigue and in medical terms is called hypoglycaemia or the lack of glucose. Also, glucose is vital for our brain to function and this explains why we are lethargic and have slower cognitive function during hangovers. Read tips to beat a killer hangover

Long-term effects of alcohol consumption on liver

The long-term effects of alcoholism are even more catastrophic. It affects all liver function and is along with fatty foods the primary cause of most liver ailments. The fat deposited due to alcohol leads to an ailment called fatty liver disease and also causes inflammation of the liver which leads to alcoholic hepatitis. For those who don’t know, hepatitis is inflammation of the liver is the first stage of liver disease due to alcohol. The next stage is the thickening of the connecting tissue which is called fibrosis and finally a chronic liver disease which is marked by cell degeneration, inflammation and advanced fibrosis which doctors call cirrhosis.

Despite being a remarkably tough organ which can even function after losing 70% of its mass, cirrhosis leads to complete shutdown. This means that blood won’t flow properly to your body which will lead to accumulation of waste and toxins in your body. These symptoms include jaundice, fluid build-up, itching, nosebleeds, red spots and lowered immunity which occurs simultaneously or gradually in individuals. What’s even more shocking is the fact that the symptoms of cirrhosis have no early marker and can only be spotted in an advanced stage by which time very little can be done for the patient.

So the next time you go out to drink with your friends, think of the consequences of drinking and ask yourself if the happiness you get from that bottle is worth destroying your entire body for?

Read more about causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of liver disease.

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Published: February 24, 2014 9:51 am | Updated:May 21, 2014 3:54 pm

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