Drinking alcoholic beverages is already part of the norm especially during celebrations or occasions. However, a new study suggested that repeated alcohol consumption paired with binge drinking can damage the liver more than expected, Science Daily has learned.
The study, published at the peer-reviewed journal Biomolecules, revealed that the combination of the binge drinking and chronic alcohol use can lead to an immense damage in the liver as compared to the separate assessment of the effects of binge drinking and alcohol use.
According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, binge drinking is a "pattern of alcohol consumption" which brings the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level to 0.08% up. Moreover, the report added that this behavior typically relates to five or more drinks for men and four or more for women in one occasion.
In the report from Science Daily, lead researcher Shivendra Shukla, PhD, from the University of Missouri School of Medicine, explained that, although it is known that chronic alcohol consumption coupled with binge drinking cause the biggest damage to the liver, they want to understand the mechanism behind the damage as well as its extent.
In order to do this, Shukla and colleagues used mice to determine the effects of binge drinking, chronic alcohol use and the combination of both. A group of mice, which were not exposed to alcohol, were used as the control group.
After the four-week duration of the experiment, the researchers found that the mice exposed to either chronic alcohol use or binge drinking experienced a moderate liver damage when compared to the control group. Moreover, unsurprisingly, the mice exposed to the combination of both suffered the biggest liver damage.
However, Shukla said that the effect of the combination of both chronic alcohol use and binge drinking was surprising as the liver damage "increased tremendously." He added that what made the results even more shocking was the fact that the fatty deposits in the liver have also increased to about 13 times more than that in the control group.
"Drinking alcohol excessively can create an inflammatory response to the liver and other organ systems in the body. If those organs work at a lower level of function, then a whole host of physiological processes can be affected," Shukla said via Science Daily. "It is important for us to understand the extent of damage caused by alcohol abuse, which also can lead to other health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer."
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
