When it comes to liver health, is it best to abstain completely from alcohol regularly for short periods, as in the Japanese concept of “liver holidays?”Or should we try to spread our drinking out evenly across the week with no breaks? Dr Erik Skovenborg examines the latest medical research.
In Japan, it is widely believed that persistent heavy drinking can damage the liver; therefore, “liver holidays”—abstaining from alcohol for two or more days each week—are considered important for general health and for maintaining the function of the liver. However, limited epidemiologic evidence supports the concept of liver holidays. A recent meta-analysis of drinking the same amount of alcohol daily or non-daily retrieved five studies of moderate quality and found daily drinking associated with a significant increase in risk of liver cirrhosis compared to non-daily drinking, with pooled relative risks of 1.71 for men and 1.56 for women.1
The mechanisms that underlie the observed association are unclear. In the liver, alcohol is oxidized to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase, and acetaldehyde is then broken down into acetate that is used as calorie energy for the body. Acetaldehyde, a highly toxic substance, is considered a mediator of alcoholic liver damage. One possible explanation for the suggested benefit of liver holidays is that non-daily alcohol consumption allows the liver time to recover after each episode of drinking.
Your liver at work
Your liver is estimated to have more than 500 different functions, and metabolizing the alcohol in your drinks is one of them.
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
