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Going on alcoholic benders is bad news for your liver, but a new study from the University of Missouri-Columbia suggests that women’s livers may be particularly vulnerable to alcohol injury. The researchers employed a rodent model and gave both female and male rats three large rounds of drinks at 12 hour intervals.

The females’ do blood alcohol levels surged twice as high as those in the males, and their livers had 4 times as much fatty buildup. More ominous is the finding that an alcohol-induced tumor-promoting protein called DGKalpha rises more than four times higher in the females than in the males.

Now let’s talk about humans. The CDC has data to show that 1 in every 8 women binge drink at least 3 times every month, and each binge consists of 6 drinks on average. One in 5 high school girls binge drink.

The sudden, sustained burst of alcohol in the bloodstream is even more damaging to our bodies than chronic alcohol consumption. This latest study is a particular warning to women but a reminder to us all that drinking in moderation is the only safe alternative to no drinking at all.

Shivendra D. Shukla, Ricardo Restrepo, Annayya R. Aroor, Xuanyou Liu, Robert W. Lim, Jacob D. Franke, David A. Ford, Ronald J. Korthuis. Binge Alcohol Is More Injurious to Liver in Female than in Male Rats: Histopathological, Pharmacologic, and Epigenetic Profiles. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 2019; 370 (3): 390 DOI: 10.1124/jpet.119.258871

#Bingedrinking #female #alcoholliverdisease