How does alcohol affect the liver?

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor I Le Nguyen Hong Tram - Gastroenterologist - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital. The doctor has many years of experience in the examination and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, especially gastrointestinal - hepatobiliary diseases, gastrointestinal endoscopy and general internal diseases.

The liver acts as a biological factory that filters through all foods and drinks that enter the body. Some of the most important tasks of the liver include:
Filtering out harmful substances in the blood such as drugs, chemicals, alcohol. Produce enzymes and bile to digest food. Transform food into substances necessary for life and tissue proliferation. Regulates blood sugar and fat... However, when the body tolerates too much toxins from food contaminated with harmful chemicals or from excessive alcohol consumption, causing the liver to become overloaded, then The liver not only failed to perform its function but was also severely damaged. Once the liver is damaged, all activities will be disrupted.

What is drinking a lot of alcohol? Here are the specific numbers for men and women:
Men drink >210 grams of alcohol/week over 2 years. Females drink >140 grams of alcohol/week for more than 2 years. By convention, 1 glass (30ml) of spirits (40 degrees), 1 glass (100ml) of wine (13.5 degrees), 1 glass (330ml) of draft beer, 2/3 bottles or cans of beer will contain 10g of alcohol.
When drinking alcohol, alcohol is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream through the lining of the stomach and intestines. Only 10% of alcohol is eliminated through sweat, breath, and urine; The remaining 90% goes straight through the liver, causing the liver to be heavily poisoned, thereby causing harm to the body.
All blood in the digestive tract will have to go through the liver before returning to the heart, so the liver will be the place to concentrate the highest alcohol concentration. Cirrhosis is one of the biggest risk factors for liver cancer. For people who often drink a lot of alcohol, drink alcohol, there is a very high risk of fatty liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis. These diseases can occur at the same time or appear gradually over time. In particular, alcohol and other toxins from alcohol will activate the liver's Kupffer cells, causing excessive production of inflammatory substances such as Interleukin, TGF-β, TNF-α,... liver, causing them to damage and die quickly. Research shows that the level of damage to the liver of inflammatory substances secreted by Kupffer cells is much more severe than that of toxins from alcohol.
The main task of the liver is to detoxify the body, but when liver cells are damaged and die a lot, it will cause the liver to decrease its ability to detoxify. Toxins accumulate in the liver more and more making the liver toxic. The toxicity will increase gradually and affect on a large scale, causing many dangerous diseases in the liver as well as the whole body.

Fatty liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis are 3 typical diseases caused by alcohol. This is also considered as 3 successive stages in the chain of dangerous liver diseases. However, these stages are not only sequential, but can also overlap. Patients with alcoholic hepatitis may have fatty liver, or both cirrhosis and hepatitis.

Fatty liver: The accumulation of fat in liver cells, occurs in people who drink a lot of alcohol. Up to 90% of people who regularly drink alcohol have fatty liver. Fatty liver condition will gradually improve if the patient drinks less or stops drinking alcohol.
Hepatitis: A gradual inflammation and necrosis of liver cells that can be fatal, especially in people with pre-existing liver disease. People who already have cirrhosis for any reason, if they continue to drink alcohol, will make the liver weaken faster and worse. The disease can range from mild to severe. Mild levels are often asymptomatic or, if present, expressed in liver enzyme levels in the blood. When hepatitis is severe for a long time, it will become chronic, destroying liver cells and leading to cirrhosis.
Cirrhosis: Can occur due to many causes such as: digestive disorders, genetics, viruses, but the highest rate is still due to drinking a lot of alcohol with the rate of 10%. From cirrhosis to liver cancer is only a few inches apart.
Liver cancer : A type of cancer that develops from liver cells. In the early stages, there are usually no symptoms when the tumor size is small, it can only be detected early by blood tests, ultrasound, magnetic resonance, CT scan. When the symptoms appear more obvious such as exhaustion, fatigue, weight loss, jaundice, enlarged abdomen, poor appetite, vomiting blood... it is at a late stage that limits the effectiveness of treatment. Without prompt and proper treatment, liver cancer patients will die within 6-12 months of the first symptoms.
People who often drink alcohol need to periodically monitor their health for early diagnosis and treatment of liver damage. Ideally, to prevent liver damage caused by alcohol, it is advisable to limit the amount of alcohol consumed in the body, that is, do not drink more than 1-2 glasses of beer or 1 small glass of wine (50ml/day).

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults should only consume one unit of alcohol per day (equivalent to 270ml of beer or 125ml of wine, 25ml of spirits). If used in excess, this is considered abuse and causes many dangerous harms, especially to the liver.
People who have liver disease in general need to avoid foods high in oil, fat, and spices. In addition, it is necessary to add many types of cooked proteins, fruits and vegetables with high fiber such as: apples, bananas, carrots, brown rice, oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, .....
Should drink Drink lots of water, especially orange and lemon juice to increase the amount of water in the body. Absolutely do not drink beer or wine. For people with cirrhosis should divide the diet into several meals a day, a little each meal. Patients with liver disease need to abstain from spicy foods, tobacco, processed foods, etc. Regularly exercise, do not arbitrarily use drugs, should take the initiative to have regular health check-ups. Currently, Vietnam is one of the countries with an alarming rate of alcohol consumption. On average, each person consumes 6.4 units of alcohol per day, 26.1 units per week, 6 times higher than the permissible standard of the World Health Organization (WHO). Vietnamese people consume 3.4 billion liters of beer and 70 million liters of wine each year. These are alarming numbers, explaining why the number of people with liver diseases is constantly increasing.