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.”