Heavy Alcohol Drinking Put 1 In 3 Americans at Risk for Metabolic Syndrome

Heavy alcohol use may be dramatically more damaging to the liver for people in United States with metabolic syndrome, shows new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Drinking is harmful to the liver, but it even more risker for this segment of population. Researchers were motivated to research a connection between advanced liver disease, alcohol use and metabolic syndrome after a surge in deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease in the United States by more than 30%. This happened despite of stable or declining alcohol use, including heavy drinking.

Heavy Alcohol Drinkers May Be Toasting Metabolic Syndrome

During the last 20 years, the number of Americans with metabolic syndrome increased significantly. Previous research has shown that metabolic syndrome can cause liver abnormalities. Therefore, researchers hypothesized that metabolic syndrome could be an important contributor to this unexplained surge in advanced liver disease (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Prevalence and associations of metabolic syndrome in patients with alcohol use disorder

Go to source).

Two people regularly have a few alcoholic drinks daily. One develops liver disease. The other doesn’t. The answer to this different outcome may lie in a condition known as metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that together raise the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other serious health problems. It is characterized by symptoms such as abdominal fat, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar, affects more than one in three Americans.

For the study, researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which assesses the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States, pulling together samples representing the U.S. population 20 years or older between 1999 and 2018 (2^✔ ✔Trusted Source
National Trends in Alcohol Use, Metabolic Syndrome, and Liver Disease From 1999 to 2018

Go to source).

While the data revealed a slight increase in advanced liver disease with heavy alcohol use without metabolic syndrome, the greatest increase in advanced liver disease was found in those with combined heavy alcohol use and metabolic syndrome.

They believe that increased risk of liver damage from drinking is a result of an increase in the amount of fat in the liver. A healthy liver contains less than five percent fat; any more than that can lead to inflammation and cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver cancer and liver failure.

Advertisement

Both metabolic syndrome and drinking increase liver fat, and we think that the combination of the two accelerates the accumulation of fat in the liver and fuels inflammation, resulting in a greater chance of liver disease.

Researchers hope this study will encourage physicians who screen and diagnose patients with metabolic syndrome to also ask about alcohol use and look for liver disease. It is also important for people with metabolic syndrome to realize they may be at an increased likelihood of advanced liver disease, and to monitor their drinking accordingly.

Advertisement

References:

1. Prevalence and associations of metabolic syndrome in patients with alcohol use disorder - (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-06010-3)
2. National Trends in Alcohol Use, Metabolic Syndrome, and Liver Disease From 1999 to 2018 - (https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-0518)

Source-Eurekalert