Alcohol-induced Liver Disease
Alcohol-induced Liver Disease
We are often told that too much alcohol is bad for us, and you may have wondered how alcohol affects your liver when sipping a glass of wine or beer.
Your liver can cope with drinking a small amount of alcohol. However the liver can only handle a certain amount of alcohol at any given time, so if you drink more than the liver can deal with by drinking too quickly, or drinking too much over a short period of time, your liver cells struggle to process it.
When alcohol reaches the liver, it produces a toxic enzyme called acetaldehyde which can damage liver cells and cause permanent scarring, in addition to damage to other organs such as the stomach lining causing gastritis or peptic ulcer disease. Your liver also requires water to do its job effectively, when alcohol enters the body it acts as a diuretic causing dehydration. Severe dehydration is part of the reason why excessive alcohol drinking causes the hangover headache.
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Alcohol-induced Liver Disease
Regular and heavy drinking over time can affect the way alcohol is metabolised within the body, which can lead to alcoholic liver disease. There are three primary types of alcohol-induced liver disease, including the following:
Fatty Liver
Fatty liver is the most common alcohol-induced liver disease, and is due to excessive accumulation of fat inside the liver cells. The liver becomes enlarged, which may cause upper abdominal discomfort on the right side. If the person stops drinking alcohol, this stage of ALD will usually reverse.
Alcoholic hepatitis
Alcoholic hepatitis is an acute inflammation of the liver, with destruction of individual liver cells and frequently followed by some degree of permanent scarring. This form of ALD is often seen after a period of very high levels of alcohol consumption over days to weeks. Symptoms may include fever, jaundice, general fatigue, right-sided abdominal pain, and nausea. The white blood count is elevated, and the liver is enlarged and tender.
Alcoholic cirrhosis
Alcoholic cirrhosis is the gradual destruction of normal liver tissue, leaving permanent scar tissue (fibrosis). Symptoms and signs relate to development of complications such as portal hypertension (increased resistance to blood flow through the liver), enlarged spleen, ascites (fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity), confusion (encephalopathy), and liver cancer.