Hey, if you think you’re giving your liver a free pass on damage because you “only” binge drink instead of daily heavy drinking, you’re so very mistaken!
The damage that drinking alcohol does to the liver is called alcoholic liver disease (whether you think you have a drinking problem or not).
Most heavy drinkers—those who regularly or routinely consume a lot of liquor—develop a fatty liver (alcoholic liver disease).
In many cases there are no symptoms, but it can progress to an inflammatory state, fibrosis and even cell death. ALD can kill you.
This is what’s meant when someone says, “He died of liver disease from drinking.”
Unlike the classic alcoholic, the binge drinker can go days without a single sip.
Liver Damage in Binge Drinkers vs. Heavy Daily Drinking
“Binge drinking is just as bad to the liver as heavy daily drinking,” says Nadeem Baig, MD, a board certified gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Monmouth Gastroenterology, a division of Allied Digestive Health.
“The problem with binge drinking is that the alcohol toxin, when consumed in large quantities over a short period of time, can overwhelm the liver repair and recovery functions.
“This leads to liver damage that cannot be undone or fixed properly on the days one is not drinking.
“Medical research has evidence proving binge drinking can lead to severe liver disease.”
Researchers at University of California, San Francisco, did a study using rodents – and yes, the mice model in research can be extrapolated to apply to humans.
Mice were subjected to single binges of alcohol, repeated binges and repeated moderate drinking.
Results
• Limited episodes of binge drinking disrupted liver function. Any disruption in the liver can pave the way for serious liver damage.
• These findings are very important, as they point to multiple aspects of early problems with function in human livers—and this includes ALD.
Heavy drinking does not have to be done on a regular basis in order to cause damage to the human body.
Dr. Baig’s
