• Question: why could the liver deal with a lot of alcohol?

    Asked by Phoebe to Charlotte, hannahmoir, Majid, Richard, Sam on 7 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Charlotte Green

      Charlotte Green answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      So the liver is able to metabolise alcohol and break it down but if you drink too much alcohol your liver can also become fatty (known as alcoholic fatty liver disease).

      Ethanol (alcohol) is broken down by the liver via a number of pathways…but too much alcohol can lead to the build up of toxic chemicals that can lead to liver damage. Most alcohol is broken down by the liver by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase which turns ethanol into acetaldehyde which can cause cancer. Normally acetaldehyde is quickly broken down to non-toxic acetate which can be further broken down to water and carbon dioxide by other organs in the body. Like a lot of things if you consume lots of alcohol you can push the system too far leading to damage.

    • Photo: Hannah Moir

      Hannah Moir answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I think Charlotte has covered this one 🙂

    • Photo: Sam Smith

      Sam Smith answered on 11 Mar 2016:

      You’re right Pheobe – it can deal with a lot of alcohol. In fact, it metabolises ~90% of what we drink. We get rid of the rest through sweat and urine. Its capacity to do this is about 10g per hour, equivalent I think to a small glass of wine or a small beer. So it can’t always keep up with the rate some people drink.

      To do this, the liver uses water because alcohol dehydrates you. The liver converts the alcohol to something toxic known as acetaldehyde, which is then broken down into something less harmful (known as acetate), which then gets broken down further into CO2 and water. While it is good at dealing with alcohol, we shouldn’t test it to its limits! Drink responsibility is generally the motto here!

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