5 Things You Need To Know About Alcohol And Your Liver
Jeanene Swanson from The Fix Magazine writes excellent articles about addiction, and has taken particular interest in the role of nutrition in addiction recovery. She regularly consults Nutrition in Recovery for insight into this important link. Her most recent article interviews Nutrition in Recovery’s Kristie Moore for information about alcohol and the liver.
Below is an except from the article which can be found in its entirety HERE
The importance of nutrition
A key problem for many alcoholics is a poor diet, which can both lead to malnutrition and exacerbate it. New frontiers in research are just beginning to discover how gut bacteria—or the gut microbiome—is affected by alcohol, which can change gut permeability and lead to problems absorbing and digesting food. “Several studies have demonstrated the importance of gut-liver axis,” says the abstract of a recent paper in the World Journal of Gastroenterology, with new treatments focusing on antibiotics, prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics.
“Malnutrition also increases oxidative stress, which is known to promote liver disease by the depletion of circulating antioxidants, including vitamins A, C, and E, and glutathione,” Moore says. “Altered fat metabolism leads to the increased production triglycerides that are deposited in the liver, contributing to fatty liver. Those suffering from malnutrition are also at higher risks of infection due to a suppressed immune system due to an altered protein status.”
David Wiss
David became a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) in 2013 and founded Nutrition in Recovery, a group practice of RDNs specializing in treating eating and substance use disorders. In 2017, David received the “Excellence in Practice” award at the National Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. The California Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics awarded him the “Emerging Dietetic Leader Award” in 2020. He earned his Ph.D. from UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health in the Community Health Sciences department (with a minor in Health Psychology) by investigating the links between adverse childhood experiences and various mental health outcomes among socially disadvantaged men. His treatment philosophy is based on a biopsychosocial model which incorporates an understanding of biological mechanisms, psychological underpinnings, and contextual factors that integrate the social determinants of health. Wise Mind Nutrition's website offers a fully online interactive treatment program in Spring 2023.