The liver is a vital organ, involved in the processing of fats, sugars, proteins and vitamins and in the regulation of blood clotting. It plays a central role in the body's defences, filtering toxins and microbes from the blood and marshaling an array of responses to trauma, stress or inflammation. The liver also has a remarkable capacity to regenerate an repair itself.

Death from cirrhosis accounts for approximately .74 deaths per 10,000 in the US*1 (about half of those are attributable to alcohol) with similar rates in Europe (.6 UK, ..35 Netherlands and Sweden and 1 in France and Spain*2). The fact is that fewer than 10% of heavy drinkers develop advanced alcoholic liver disease, but why this figure is so low, remains a mystery.

Research is increasingly proving a link between an increased risk of liver disease with obesity. A study by Duk-Hee Lee et al concludes that body weight rather than alcohol consumption could be the major factor determining the serum level of liver enzymes. Futhermore obesity is thought to slow intestinal motility, enabling bacterial overgrowth and increased production of alcohol and other noxious factors in the intestine.

A further study by Day et al believes that there is a non-gender genetic link to liver disease susceptibility, which has implications for treatment and the identifying of high risk individuals at an early age. Dr. Harvey Finkel M.D. reviews the evidence and concludes that light to moderate consumption of alcohol , in the absence of liver disease, appears harmless and, following recent research, could be beneficial to the liver's regeneration, although more research is needed.

*1 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism *2 World Health Organisation Global Status Report on Alcohol