Will liver damage occur if you don't get drunk? Is it good to eat meat or drink tea while drinking alcohol? The truth is...!

Author: Fan Jiangao, Chief Physician of Xinhua Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine

Chairman of the Fatty Liver Expert Committee of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and Dean of the Fatty Liver College

Reviewer: Zhang Yu, researcher at Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Many people believe that as long as they don’t get drunk, they won’t damage their liver. In fact, this is a misunderstanding.

Having a good alcohol tolerance and not getting drunk does not mean that the liver will not be damaged. The amount of alcohol consumed, the length of time you drink, combined with your weight, and whether you have liver disease or other complications determine whether your liver will be damaged.

In the early stages, there may not be particularly sensitive indicators to indicate liver damage. Don't think that if you have no symptoms, no feelings, and feel fine, you should go to the hospital for a check-up to find out if drinking has damaged your liver. You can only know if you have a B-ultrasound, a blood test, or a liver elasticity test.

In other words, whether you are drunk or not, long-term drinking may damage your liver.

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Some people would say that when the atmosphere is right, you have to drink, while others would say that drinking is just for socializing and it is really helpless. So what should we do?

1. How to control the amount of alcohol consumed so as not to damage the liver?

The relationship between drinking, liver disease and health depends most importantly on the amount of drinking.

Generally speaking, for healthy adult males, the average daily alcohol intake is less than 20 grams, and for females, it is less than 10 grams, which we consider to be a small amount; for healthy adult males, the average daily alcohol intake is more than 30 grams, and for females, it is more than 20 grams, which we consider to be excessive. If excessive drinking occurs for more than 5 years, 50%-60% of people may develop alcoholic liver disease.

The above is the average daily alcohol intake. Some people drink twice a week, 60 grams each time, divided by 7, the average daily intake is only 17 grams, which is within the limit. However, if the amount of alcohol consumed at one time exceeds 60 grams within two hours, it may also damage the liver.

So everyone should know two concepts. The first is the average daily alcohol consumption. If it exceeds 30 grams for men and more than 20 grams for women, it is considered excessive. The second is the amount of alcohol consumed in one go. If it exceeds 60 grams, it is also considered excessive.

How to calculate the amount of alcohol?

Multiply the alcohol content by the number of milliliters, and then multiply by the specific gravity of alcohol, 0.8.

For example, if you drink 2 liang of 50-proof liquor, 2 liang is 100 milliliters, and 0.5×100×0.8 equals 40, which is 40 grams of alcohol. 2 liang of 50-proof liquor is considered excessive.

Red wine is generally 13.5 degrees. If you drink 200 ml, 0.135×200×0.8 equals 21.6, which is not excessive for men. Yellow wine is generally 16 degrees, and beer is 3.5 degrees. You can convert based on this.

For normal adult men, it is safe to drink no more than 150ml of white wine and no more than 300ml of red wine a day. However, for pregnant women and patients with stomach and liver diseases, there is no safe amount of alcohol and drinking is not recommended.

2. Is it easier for women to damage their livers when drinking than men?

Compared with men, women are more sensitive to alcohol. The amount of alcohol that can cause poisoning is half that of men, and one-third for some women. Men may damage their livers if they drink more than 30 grams of alcohol a day on average, while women may damage their livers if they drink more than 20 grams.

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Although some women can drink a lot, this is just an exception. Overall, women are more likely to suffer liver damage when drinking the same amount of alcohol. To some extent, women are more likely to suffer liver damage when drinking alcohol than men.

3. Is it good for your health to eat meat and drink tea while drinking alcohol?

Some people say that eating fatty meat while drinking can protect the liver. After eating fatty meat, the digestive tract will prioritize absorbing the fat in the fatty meat, reducing the body's absorption of alcohol, making you less easily drunk, and possibly reducing liver damage.

Although animal experiments have found that giving saturated fat before drinking has a protective effect on the liver, we do not advocate drinking too much alcohol and eating too greasy food for fear of high triglycerides and pancreatitis. In addition to damaging the liver, drinking alcohol can also cause attacks of pancreatitis.

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Some people say that drinking coffee and tea can reduce the damage of alcohol to the liver and reduce the occurrence of cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Alcohol itself is a stimulant. If you drink strong tea or coffee, can your stomach handle it? Can your heart handle it? Can you rest well at night? Although strong tea and coffee have protective effects, you should still drink as little as possible. You cannot rely on them to sober up.

In case of acute drunkenness, what we are most worried about is hypoglycemia. If you drink strong tea, it may cause your blood sugar to drop even lower. Therefore, we do not recommend drinking too much strong tea in order to reduce the damage of alcohol to the liver.

Drinking alcohol can cause liver damage, which is a genetic susceptibility and also varies from person to person. In any case, long-term drinking is not good for you. It is recommended that you quit drinking and drink as little as possible.