Half of the drinkers you talk to will tell you that while they drink, they regularly get their LFT (liver function test) done to rule out any impact on the liver. Little do most people know that LFT alone tends to miss out on liver issues and doctors often recommend a combination of LFT and ultrasound to fully study the condition of one’s liver. And it is a known fact that the liver, the organ which helps regulate our body’s metabolism is often the first to get thrown off by unhealthy lifestyle choices like alcohol, poor diet, sleep changes and more.
Today on World Liver Day, we spoke exclusively to Dr. Arvinder Singh Soin, Chairman, Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine, Gurugram, Medanta Hospital, Gurugram about the impact of alcohol on liver and to know if there are any safe limits.
There is a very complicated relationship between drinking alcohol and liver health. If one has excessive amounts of alcohol, then of course the liver will get affected. Having said that, individuals even with moderate amounts of alcohol can be affected. People who have predisposing risk factors like hepatitis viral infection or may have fatty liver disease due to diabetes or uncontrolled Dyslipidemia, they have to be extremely careful not to have even moderate amounts of alcohol.
The safe limit of alcohol that I can suggest for men would be up to 10 units a week and about 8 units a week for women. 1 unit being 30 mls of whiskey or regular glass of wine or half a pint of beer. These are the measures to go by. If you restrict your alcohol intake less than this, you are not likely to have damaged liver but if you have other factors that make you prone to liver issues , even with lesser quantities of alcohol, bigger damage can happen.
According to a research carried out by Shannon M. Bailey, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, alcohol was able to knock a mouse’s liver rhythms out of whack. The team figured that feeding mice even moderate levels of alcohol for a month drastically disrupted its liver function. So if you cannot give up drinking, try to limit it to social drinking as excessive alcohol consumption can be very damaging to your liver health.
