Study Shows Giving Your Liver A Break From Alcohol Is Good For Cirrhosis

The liver is often an overlooked and overworked organ in the body—neutralizing toxins on the daily from air and water pollution, chemical-based cleaning agents, hair and skin care products, and plastics. And when you intentionally throw a toxin like alcohol on top of all that, it stresses the organ out. 

The question we all want the answer to is, just how much and how frequently can I drink alcohol without it being detrimental to my health? Researchers of a recently published study aimed to address part of this question. They pooled together data from five large-scale studies to see if daily drinking or consuming that same amount of alcohol but taking a few days off from drinking was linked to a higher risk of liver cirrhosis1—the severe and permanent scarring of the liver. 

Many past studies have solely looked at total alcohol consumption and risk of cirrhosis, but few have distinguished volume from frequency. And if studies did look at frequency, then rarely was volume kept consistent (aka those that drank daily also tended to drink more in general). 

This analysis was unique because weekly alcohol intake was consistent between daily drinkers (those who had booze seven days a week) and non-daily drinkers (those who took one or two days off from drinking a week). 

However, the exact amount of alcohol they drank was not captured. So we’re still missing part of the equation. 

Some nutrition guidelines across the globe recommend avoiding daily alcohol consumption. In fact, Japan has a principle asserting to keep two days a week free from alcohol to allow the liver to rest. This new analysis provides the most robust evidence yet to support this practice. 

The consistent exposure to toxic substances (like acetaldehyde) in daily drinkers might explain why they are more likely to develop liver cirrhosis. So taking breaks from drinking—especially for those who imbibe large quantities—gives the liver time to recover and take a break from an ongoing toxic load.