Most civilisations have enjoyed their own particular celebratory brew. All you need is a rotted or fermented vegetable, grain or fruit to create alcohol. Not surprisingly, the body has evolved to cope with alcohol, with assorted enzymes and biochemical pathways. However, even in small amounts, alcohol is toxic to all cells, particularly nerve cells and the liver.
The liver treats alcohol as a VIP, metabolising it as quickly as possible, before it causes major destruction elsewhere in the body.
The first breakdown product is called acetaldehyde, and this is what creates a hangover. The liver can be overwhelmed if all its energies are taken up with dealing with this overbearing substance. As a consequence, all the other many duties the liver performs are postponed: this includes bundling up fatty acids to transport them elsewhere, which is why constant drinkers suffer from a ‘fatty liver’.
Most people know why they have a hangover even if they cannot remember exactly how they got it. However, if you are affected by alcohol very easily, then perhaps your liver needs some help. Follow some of the dietary suggestions in Liver Problems.
Your liver can cope with only so much, roughly one drink per hour, and you should limit intake to one or two drinks a day. The definition of a drink is any alcoholic beverage that delivers 14 mL of pure ethanol: 85-113 mL wine, 284 mL of wine cooler, 340 mL of beer, 28 mL of spirits such as vodka, rum or scotch.
