Sustained drinking leads to chronic endotoxin activation of the liver's Kupffer cells, a small fraction of the liver's cells that normally function to protect the liver from toxins and infections. Once activated, Kupffer cells oxidize, scar and damage the hepatocytes that carry out the liver's metabolic and manufacturing activities. Physician recommendations for annual periods of total abstinence would likely reduce the progression of disease. But practical experience suggests that physician recommendations of this type have little effect on individuals who feel healthy as the smoldering liver damage progresses. Often abstinence occurs too late after the realization of serious illness and the liver is already fatally scarred.
Transplants can work, but there are thousands who die waiting for a liver.
The increased spread of viral hepatitis can complicate and worsen the prognosis of alcoholic liver damage. The ongoing research in Ron Thurman's Laboratory of Hepatobiology contributes greatly to our understanding of the processes of this disease and will likely lead to other beneficial discoveries that will improve human health. Reductions in alcoholic liver disease might result from the discovery of the beneficial actions of glycine, a simple amino acid nutrient. Should additional research continue to establish that glycine can slow and reverse this disease, wineries and beverage companies might be convinced to add glycine to their products. Patients could be advised of healthy diet practices and appropriate high glycine foods and diet supplements.