With the improvement of people’s living standards, the pressure of fast pace and work and study, the sales of alcoholic products have also increased rapidly, and the proportion of drinking people has increased year by year. According to incomplete statistics, the number of deaths caused by alcoholism is as high as more than 2 million, most of which are caused by alcohol-induced liver damage, namely alcoholic liver disease. Therefore, we must face up to the problem of alcohol-induced liver damage.

Alcoholic liver disease is liver damage caused by long-term heavy drinking, which can manifest as alcoholic fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic liver cirrhosis, and severe cases can develop into Hepatocellular carcinoma, which generally manifests as extensive necrosis of liver cells and even causes liver failure, is also one of the common liver diseases in our country.

Severe alcoholic liver disease can cause liver cirrhosis, gastrointestinal bleeding, liver failure, and lead to death of the patient. Alcoholics can induce cholestatic hepatitis due to immune system disturbance and antigen-antibody reaction in the body, manifesting as dominant or recessive jaundice. For alcohol consumption, men should generally be greater than or equal to 40g per day, and women should be greater than or equal to 20g per day. The calculation method is alcohol intake = alcohol concentration × alcohol consumption × alcohol specific gravity 0.8. If you drink a lot, and the short-term (2 weeks) equivalent alcohol content is greater than or equal to 80g per day, it may also cause alcoholic liver disease, but it has a certain relationship with gender and genetic factors. Biochemical examinations often showed increased GGT and AST, but the increase of ALT was not obvious.

The liver is the main site of alcohol metabolism and degradation, and alcohol has a direct damage effect on the liver. The mechanism is as follows:

Alcohol entering the liver is converted into acetaldehyde under the action of alcohol dehydrogenase and microsomal alcohol oxidase, and acetaldehyde is then converted into acetaldehyde. Converted to acetic acid by dehydrogenase. Most people in our country are not so rich in acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, which leads to the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the body.

The toxicity of acetaldehyde The acetaldehyde produced in the process of alcohol metabolism has strong biochemical reactions and toxicity, which can affect the properties of hepatocyte membranes and inhibit the synthesis of proteins in hepatocytes. secretion excretion.

Nutrition deficiency: alcoholics often have nutritional deficiencies, especially protein deficiency, which reduces amino acids and enzymes in the liver, which can promote the toxic effects of alcohol.

Alcoholic liver is a general term for a disease, which is affected by many factors, such as the function of the patient’s liver and the individual’s drinking status, physical state, etc., can be manifested as a variety of different disease states. The symptoms of patients with alcoholic liver disease mostly develop gradually or occult onset, and may experience loss of appetite, abdominal pain, and bleeding, and some patients may be asymptomatic for a long time. Alcoholic liver disease can also be complicated by esophageal and gastric variceal bleeding, and some alcoholic liver disease is not too serious, and timely detection can be effectively improved. The manifestations and severity of alcoholic liver are also different. Common alcoholic liver can be manifested as alcoholic fatty liver or mild alcoholic steatohepatitis.

This situation is usually not too harmful. If it can be found in time, stop drinking in time, and give corresponding treatment to early alcoholic liver failure. It can be reversed without some serious consequences. However, if the patient does not stop drinking in time, the patient will continue to drink a lot for a long time, which will cause cumulative liver damage, resulting in serious alcoholic liver disease. For example, decompensated liver cirrhosis, chronic liver failure, liver cancer, etc. are very serious, and may even lead to the death of patients.

A number of medical expert studies have shown that alcohol consumption levels are positively related to the risk of death. Treatment is generally to first stop drinking, and take liver protection if necessary. And the healthy way to do it is to stay away from alcohol. The possible benefits of drinking alcohol are relatively negligible relative to the risks. So here we hope that everyone will stop drinking for the happiness of you and your family.

[Experts in this issue]

Wang Xiujie, Director, Department of Gastroenterology, Shenyang Fifth People’s Hospital physician. He is a member of the Digestive Professional Committee of the Liaoning Provincial Association of Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine, a member of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Professional Committee of the Liaoning Provincial Association of Integrative Medicine, an executive director of the Digestive Disease and Translational Medicine Professional Committee of the Liaoning Provincial Society of Biological Cytology, and an expert on a multidisciplinary collaboration platform for reflux disease. She is an examiner of the National Physician Qualification Examination in Shenyang, a consultation expert in Shenyang, an adjunct professor of Dalian Medical University, and a professor of Shenyang Medical College. Specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease, various types of gastritis, peptic ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease, functional gastrointestinal disease, alcoholic liver disease, cirrhosis and complications, pancreatitis, gastrointestinal bleeding and other gastroenterology diseases. Endoscopic treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding, endoscopic foreign body removal, endoscopic tumor resection and other treatments, as well as scientific research and teaching work.