Alcohol and the Liver ___________________________________________________________________
Once the alcohol gets to the stomach, it passes right to the small intestine because alcohol requires no digestion. From the small intestine, it is carried to the liver by a network of vessels called the portal system. Here is where all the problems begin. As you are probably aware, the liver is composed of hepatic cells. One of the jobs of these cells is to filter out all the deleterious and toxic substances coming from the stomach. Alcohol is a very toxic substance. Therefore, it is the liver’s job to break alcohol down and/or hydrolyze it. This is not an easy task for the liver to perform because as I mentioned, alcohol irritates and sedates just about every type of tissue with which it comes in contact. Accordingly, as soon as alcohol comes in contact with the hepatic cells, it inflames and tranquilizes them, causing a mild form of hepatitis (inflammation of the hepatic cells). CRITICAL POINT: In order for the liver to get the fat out of its cells it needs three nutrients: folic acid, choline and Vitamin B-12. Interestingly, the liver is the only organ in the body that can detoxify ethyl alcohol. It produces an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenis, which breaks down ethyl alcohol into acetyacholine. Once alcohol is converted to acetyacholine, all the cells in the body can absorb it and use it in metabolism. In a nut shell, the cells take the acetyacholine, break it down to acetic acid, then to coenzyme A, run it throw the kreb cycle and presto…ATP. You know what ATP is? It is an energy source. That’s right, alcohol is an energy source. Actually, it is an excellent energy source…7 calories per gram. That’s why alcoholics don’t have to eat. They can get their calories from the alcohol they drink. The problem with that is that alcohol has no nutritional value. Consequently, a lot of alcoholics who don’t eat are suffering from malnutrition. This presents a major problem as you will see in a moment. Actually, the liver has little difficulty hydrolyzing alcohol. It can break down approximately one ounce (28.35grams) of alcohol every hour. The problem is that most people have a tendency to exceed that one ounce an hour limit. Heck, some alcoholics consume enough alcohol in an hour to kill a horse. I am sure you are familiar with HAPPY HOUR. That is when you pay ten dollars and declare war on your liver. You try to get your ten dollars worth by consuming half the liquor in the bar. This is where the liver really runs into problems. If the consumption of alcohol is too great for the liver to hydrolyze all