When we think of liver disease associated with drinking alcohol we generally think of afflicted people being only those who drink a lot. However drinking just one or two alcoholic drinks a day has been linked to liver disease reports the European Association for the Study of the Liver via EurekAlert.
The World Health Organization has reported excessive alcohol consumption is the most common cause of cirrhosis across the world. Daily drinking has been found to have a significant influence on this disease burden. Cirrhosis burden which is caused by alcohol has been observed to increase significantly when moving from the moderate to heavy daily drinking.
The majority of studies which assess the prevalence of alcohol abuse as a risk factor for alcoholic cirrhosis have focused on the total annual amount of alcohol which is consumed per person. However, it has been highlighted by researchers that it is a high daily consumption of alcohol which serves as the strongest predictor of alcoholic cirrhosis. Decreasing heavy drinking should therefore be considered as a vital target for public health monitoring and policies in dealing with this illness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports excessive drinking of alcohol is associated with significant increases in short-term risks of a person’s health and safety. This risk increases as the amount of alcohol consumption increases. All initiatives should be made to therefore encourage a decrease in alcohol consumption. Regular drinking of even one or two drinks of alcohol daily should never actually be encouraged.
