No Alcohol No Sweat

Newsflash: the liver is a vital organ with a wide range of functions crucial for maintaining the body’s health.

After all, it’s the second largest organ in the body. (One for the fact fans out there. The largest? The skin.)

In short, it’s no appendix. You need a functioning liver in order to live a healthy life.

And it’s (reasonably) common knowledge that drinking alcoholic drinks can have a pretty negative effect on the liver.

Does non-alcoholic wine and beer affect your liver? Let’s find out.

What the liver does

The liver plays a role in a whole range of important bodily functions, including:

• Metabolism: The liver metabolises carbohydrates, fats and proteins. It also regulates blood sugar levels, and stores and releases glucose as required.
• Detoxification: It helps detoxify your blood by removing toxins, drugs and other harmful substances from the body.
• Synthesis: The liver produces important proteins like albumin and blood-clotting factors, as well as bile, which is crucial for digestion and for the absorption of fats.
• Storage: It stores essential nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, and serves as a reservoir for glycogen and energy.
• Regulation of cholesterol: The liver helps regulate your cholesterol levels by producing cholesterol as needed and removing it via bile if it becomes too abundant and your levels get out of whack.
• Breakdown of red blood cells: Old or damaged red blood cells are broken down in the liver.
• Immune function: The liver is involved in immune responses and so helps fight infections.
• Hormone regulation: It participates in the metabolism and regulation of hormones, including insulin and thyroid hormones.

The relationship between alcohol and liver health

Now, let’s look at how alcohol affects the liver, so that we know what benefits NA wine and beer can bring to your health by being sans alcool.

The liver plays a crucial role in metabolising alcohol, but when consumption of that alcohol exceeds the liver’s capacity to deal with it, that can lead to various liver-related disorders.

Liver disorders

1. Fatty liver disease: One of the initial stages of alcohol-induced liver damage is the development of fatty liver disease, also known as alcoholic steatosis. Excessive alcohol consumption can cause the liver to accumulate fat, meaning that it becomes enlarged. Although this stage is reversible with abstinence from alcohol, continuous heavy drinking can progress it to more severe conditions.
2. Alcoholic hepatitis: Alcoholic hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver caused by excessive alcohol consumption. It is characterised by symptoms such as jaundice, abdominal pain, fever and an enlarged liver. Alcoholic hepatitis can be life-threatening, especially if it is not treated promptly. It can lead to liver failure, and individuals with this condition are advised to stop drinking immediately.
3. Fibrosis and cirrhosis: With prolonged heavy drinking, the liver’s continuous exposure to alcohol and its metabolites can result in the development of scar tissue. This condition is known as fibrosis. If the scar tissue continues to accumulate and replace healthy liver tissue, it leads to a condition called cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a late-stage liver disease that severely impairs liver function, causing symptoms like fatigue, easy bruising, swelling and confusion. And, ultimately, it can kill you. Indeed, it is reported that one quarter of global cirrhosis deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.
4. Liver cancer: Individuals with cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol abuse are at an increased risk of then developing liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). The combination of ongoing inflammation, tissue damage, and regenerative processes can create an environment conducive to the growth of cancerous cells.

Obviously, by choosing non-alcoholic options, you pretty much eliminate these risks.

Non-alcoholic beverages: liver impact

Non-alcoholic wine and beer typically contain alcohol levels of less than 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). This is considered negligible compared to their alcoholic counterparts. The good news is that the minimal alcohol content in non-alcoholic drinks generally has a limited impact on the liver, especially when consumed in moderation. The enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism are not significantly activated. And the liver doesn’t face the same strain as it would with alcoholic beverages.

However, it’s important to note that non-alcoholic beverages still contain sugars, additives, and preservatives, which, if consumed excessively, can have their own adverse health effects, such as contributing to obesity, diabetes and other metabolic issues. These effects, though not directly related to the liver, can indirectly impact liver health over time.

Conclusion

So it’s true that the key difference between non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages when it comes to their effect on the liver lies in the alcohol content.

Non-alcoholic drinks contain trace amounts of alcohol that, when consumed in moderation, mean that those drinks do not significantly affect the liver. Alcoholic beverages, however, with their higher alcohol content, can pose a considerable risk to liver health when consumed excessively.

If you stick to government guidelines about healthy alcohol intake, you should not develop any liver condition (the effect on the liver and other organs is one of the key pieces of data used to set the guidelines). However, continued alcohol consumption will always up the risk. So, when it comes to the health of your liver at least, non-alcoholic wine and beer is the clear winner.

_{Image credit: Leiden University Libraries}