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Liver Disease

Liver disease is any condition that causes liver inflammation or tissue damage and affects liver function. The liver is the largest organ in the body and performs a number of vital functions such as converting nutrients derived from food into essential blood components, storing vitamins and minerals, regulating blood clotting, producing  proteins, enzymes, maintaining hormone balances, and metabolizing and detoxifying substances that would otherwise be harmful to the body. The liver also produces bile, a liquid that helps with digestion.


A moderate amount of alcohol is broken down by the liver without any damage. However, when drinking excessively, the liver can transform alcohol into fat and accumulate these lipids and become injured or seriously damaged. Liver injury can be determined by histology, abdominal ultrasonography and by testing the blood concentration of certain enzymes, such as gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), aspartate amino-transferase (AST), and alanine amino-transferase (ALT).

On the other hand, some studies suggest that moderate and regular consumption of alcoholic beverages may play a protective role against fatty liver disease, the exact mechanisms involved have not yet been clearly established.

The above summary provides an overview of the topic, for more details and specific questions, please refer to the articles in the database.

A Cohort Study Examining the Interaction of Alcohol Consumption and Obesity in Hepatic Steatosis and Mortality

OBJECTIVE: To study the interaction of alcohol consumption with body mass index (BMI) in the development of hepatic steatosis and mortality. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 18,506 participants without fatty liver disease or cirrhosis at enrollment in the Mayo Clinic Biobank from April 9, 2009, through March 31, 2016. Participants were classified by self-reported alcohol consumption status (nondrinkers, moderate drinkers [0 to 2 drinks per day], and heavy drinkers [>2 drinks per day]). The primary outcome of interest was the incidence of hepatic steatosis, identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code and confirmed with imaging. The secondary outcome of interest was all-cause mortality. Multivariate Cox regression analysis determined the impact of alcohol consumption…
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Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with advanced fibrosis in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and shows a synergistic effect with type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. Whether moderate alcohol consumption plays a role for progression of NAFLD is disputed. Moreover, it is not known which tool is ideal for assessment of alcohol consumption in NAFLD. This study aimed to evaluate if moderate alcohol consumption assessed with different methods, including the biological marker phosphatidylethanol (PEth), is associated with advanced fibrosis in NAFLD. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. All participants were clinically evaluated with medical history, blood tests, and anthropometric measurements. Alcohol consumption was assessed using PEth in blood, the questionnaire AUDIT-C, and clinical interview. FINDINGS: 86 patients were included of which 17% had advanced fibrosis. All participants…
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The effect of moderate alcohol drinking in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is defined by fat accumulation in liver that is not caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Safe limits of alcohol consumption in NAFLD are usually defined as alcohol consumption of less than 210 g per week for men and 140 g per week for women (30 g/day in men, 20 g/day in women) and alcohol consumption below safe limits is generally regarded as moderate alcohol consumption. Many studies have investigated the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on NAFLD patients. Some studies showed that moderate alcohol consumption prevented the progression of fibrosis in the liver, whereas other reports showed worsening of fibrosis in the liver based on serologic, radiologic and liver biopsy findings compared with effects on…
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Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Alcohol-Related Liver Disease: Two Intertwined Entities

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide, with a prevalence of 25-30%. Since its first description in 1980, NAFLD has been conceived as a different entity from alcohol-related fatty liver disease (ALD), despite that, both diseases have an overlap in the pathophysiology, share genetic-epigenetic factors, and frequently coexist. Both entities are characterized by a broad spectrum of histological features ranging from isolated steatosis to steatohepatitis and cirrhosis. Distinction between NAFLD and ALD is based on the amount of consumed alcohol, which has been arbitrarily established. In this context, a proposal of positive criteria for NAFLD diagnosis not considering exclusion of alcohol consumption as a prerequisite criterion for diagnosis had emerged, recognizing the…
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Alcohol Consumption and Risk of Liver Cirrhosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVES: To systematically summarize the risk relationship between different levels of alcohol consumption and incidence of liver cirrhosis. METHODS: MEDLINE and Embase were searched up to March 6, 2019, to identify case-control and cohort studies with sex-specific results and more than 2 categories of drinking in relation to the incidence of liver cirrhosis. Study characteristics were extracted and random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions were conducted. RESULTS: A total of 7 cohort studies and 2 case-control studies met the inclusion criteria, providing data from 2,629,272 participants with 5,505 cases of liver cirrhosis. There was no increased risk for occasional drinkers. Consumption of one drink per day in comparison to long-term abstainers showed an increased risk for liver cirrhosis in women, but not…
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