Originally published July 12 2005
Women more susceptible to alcohol-induced liver damage
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A study of rats suggests women are more susceptible than men to liver damage as a result of alcohol consumption, and female rats fed a diet high in fatty fish oils, as opposed to a high-carbohydrate diet, showed more signs of liver damage.
Women may be more susceptible to alcohol-induced liver damage, say researchers who base their hypothesis on a study involving rats.
"Our aim was to determine whether chronic alcohol ingestion in male and female rats resulted in ...
subsequent liver injury, using two diets differing in carbohydrate and fatty acid composition and degree of liver injury," wrote Patricia Eagon, PhD, in the university's Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, and her colleagues.
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) involves three main conditions: fatty liver (steatosis), alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis.
Heavy drinking for just a few days can lead to steatosis, the earliest stage of alcoholic liver disease and the most common liver disorder caused by alcohol.
Drinking heavily for longer periods can lead to alcoholic hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver that includes obvious symptoms like nausea, lack of appetite, vomiting, fever, jaundice, and sometimes, confusion.
It has been known that women face greater risks of severe liver damage from consuming alcohol compared to men,3,4 Eagon and her fellow researchers noted.
The first group was given alcohol with either a high-carbohydrate or a high fat diet.
The second group was fed no alcohol with either diet.
The high fat diet was based on fatty fish oils that included highly unsaturated fats, whereas the high-carb diet contained a mixture of vegetable oils that contained the same amount of fat, but included monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
High levels of these substances in parts of the rat's bodies other than the intestine would be an indicator that they were involved in the liver injury found.
Much higher levels of endotoxins that had migrated from the intestine to abdominal lymph nodes and the bloodstream were found in the female rats given alcohol and the high fish oil diet as compared to the other groups, Eagon's team reported.
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