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Study Shows Giving Your Liver A Break From Alcohol Is Good For Cirrhosis

Author:

Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN

December 16, 2023

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

By Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Texas Christian University and a master’s in nutrition interventions, communication, and behavior change from Tufts University. She lives in Newport Beach, California, and enjoys connecting people to the food they eat and how it influences health and wellbeing.

Image by Studio Firma / Stocksy

December 16, 2023

The liver is often an overlooked and overworked organ in the body—neutralizing toxins on the daily from air and water pollution, chemical-based cleaning agents, hair and skin care products, and plastics. And when you intentionally throw a toxin like alcohol on top of all that, it stresses the organ out.

The question we all want the answer to is, just how much and how frequently can I drink alcohol without it being detrimental to my health? Researchers of a recently published study aimed to address part of this question. They pooled together data from five large-scale studies to see if daily drinking or consuming that same amount of alcohol but taking a few days off from drinking was linked to a higher risk of liver cirrhosis 1—the severe and permanent scarring of the liver.

Turns out a regular nightcap is much worse. Let’s break it down.

The toll of daily drinking on your liver

Many past studies have solely looked at total alcohol consumption and risk of cirrhosis, but few have distinguished volume from frequency. And if studies did look at frequency, then rarely was volume kept consistent (aka those that drank daily also tended to drink more in general).

This analysis was unique because weekly alcohol intake was consistent between daily drinkers (those who had booze seven days a week) and non-daily drinkers (those who took one or two days off from drinking a week).

However, the exact amount of alcohol they drank was not captured. So we’re still missing part of the equation.

That said, compared to non-daily drinkers, those who drank daily had a 71% higher risk of liver cirrhosis 1 (in men) and a 56% higher risk (in women) over a period of 10-21 years.

The case for giving your system a break

Some nutrition guidelines across the globe recommend avoiding daily alcohol consumption. In fact, Japan has a principle asserting to keep two days a week free from alcohol to allow the liver to rest. This new analysis provides the most robust evidence yet to support this practice.

The consistent exposure to toxic substances (like acetaldehyde) in daily drinkers might explain why they are more likely to develop liver cirrhosis. So taking breaks from drinking—especially for those who imbibe large quantities—gives the liver time to recover and take a break from an ongoing toxic load.

For more social, less frequent drinkers, it’s still important to care for your liver and give it some time off. Researchers of this study also note that avoiding binge drinking occasions is still the most important factor in protecting yourself from cirrhosis.

The takeaway

When it comes to alcohol, less is best for health. This means less volume of alcohol and fewer drinking occasions. But, you don’t have to give up libations completely to protect your liver. There are still ways you can drink consciously, habits you can implement to support liver function, and supplements that bolster your body’s natural detoxification pathways on occasions where you do choose to imbibe.