Incredibly common drinking habit may quietly triple risk of serious liver condition: study

Even occasional binge drinking could triple the risk of a serious liver condition, a new study suggests.Just one episode per month was associated with a threefold increase in advanced liver fibrosis in people with underlying metabolic liver disease, according to research from the University of Southern California (USC).Advanced liver fibrosis is a condition that occurs in the advanced stage of chronic liver disease, marked by a buildup of significant scar tissue due to chronic, long-term inflammation, according to the American Liver Foundation.Consuming large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time is known to cause liver damage and inflammation, according to medical experts.“Patients often ask how much they can drink,” lead investigator Brian P.Lee, MD, hepatologist and liver transplant specialist with Keck Medicine of USC, told Fox News Digital.

“In the liver world, we’re used to thinking about this as an average — for example, we categorize patients based on alcohol consumption per week.”The researchers aimed to determine whether the pattern of drinking affected the risk of liver disease, compared to the total amount consumed.The study analyzed six years of data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which included more than 8,000 adults, according to the study’s press release.  Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.Please provide a valid email.

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The researchers focused on those with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which is a fatty liver disease linked to metabolic health problems. Most large epidemiologic studies estimate that MASLD affects about 25% to 30% of US adults.The condition is associated with excess weight and obesity, as well as metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and h...