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.

Alcohol use and metabolic syndrome are highly prevalent in the population and frequently co-exist. Both are implicated in a large range of health problems, including chronic liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver-related outcomes (i.e. decompensation or liver transplantation). Studies have yielded mixed results regarding the effects of mild-moderate alcohol consumption on the risk of metabolic syndrome and fatty liver disease, possibly due to methodological differences. The few available prospective studies have indicated that mild-moderate alcohol use is associated with an increase in liver-related outcomes. This conclusion was substantiated by systems biology analyses suggesting that alcohol and metabolic syndrome may play a similar role in fatty liver disease, potentiating an already existing dysregulation of common vital homeostatic pathways. Alcohol and metabolic…
Heavy alcohol consumption is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Globally, alcohol per-capita consumption rose from 5.5 litres in 2005 to 6.4 litres in 2016 and is projected to increase further to 7.6 litres in 2030. In 2019, an estimated 25% of global cirrhosis deaths were associated with alcohol. The global estimated age-standardized death rate (ASDR) of alcohol-associated cirrhosis was 4.5 per 100,000 population, with the highest and lowest ASDR in Africa and the Western Pacific, respectively. The annual incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among patients with alcohol-associated cirrhosis ranged from 0.9% to 5.6%. Alcohol was associated with approximately one-fifth of global HCC-related deaths in 2019. Between 2012 and 2017, the global estimated ASDR for alcohol-associated cirrhosis declined, but…
BACKGROUND: Although alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is a global health threat, there are no specific effective treatments for it. Thus, efforts at preventing ALD are important and could be enhanced by using strategies based on validated risk and protective factors for the disease. METHODS: The literature on factors influencing the risk for ALD was systematically searched from PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane library databases from inception to June 2022. Factors suitable for quantitative analysis were submitted to meta-analysis using fixed-effects and random-effects models to calculate each factor's risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: Ten cohort studies (covering 1,005,339 subjects) that reported a clear causal relationship were included in the analysis, involving 11 potential risk factors (sex, race,…
The role of moderate alcohol consumption in the evolution of NAFLD is still debated. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of current and lifelong alcohol consumption in patients with NAFLD. From 2015 to 2020, we enrolled 276 consecutive patients fulfilling criteria of NAFLD (alcohol consumption up to 140 g/week for women and 210 g/week for men). According to their current alcohol intake per week, patients were divided in: abstainers, very low consumers (C1:
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of fatty liver disease is potentially increasing in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) due to the obesity and alcohol pandemics. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of alcohol-associated fatty liver disease (ALD) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in a representative U.S. cohort utilizing transient elastography to directly measure hepatic steatosis and suspected fibrosis. METHODS: AYAs (age 15-39 years) with valid FibroScan((R)) measurements in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database (2017-2018) were included in the analyses. Those with viral hepatitis, pregnancy, or ALT/AST > 500 U/L were excluded. The population was divided into those with excessive alcohol consumption (ALQ130) and those without. Controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) score >/= 248 dB/m…
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