Alcohol and obesity add up

Liver diseases: Heavy drinking and obesity add up. Nothing new is that the heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages multiplies the risk of dying of a liver disease. What is new is the realization that additional obesity drives up the risk.

Nothing new is that heavy drinking of alcoholic beverages multiplies the risk of dying of liver disease. What is new is the realization that additional obesity drives up the risk.This should, according to the author Dr. Carole Hart from the Department of Public Health and Health Strategies of the University of Glasgow, over the past 15 years in Scotland have increased the rate of liver disease three times.

The findings are based on two studies published by researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford. The scientists from the Cancer Epidemiology Unit of the University of Oxford had in the context of the so-called „Million Women Study“ the relationship between liver disease, heavy alcohol drinking and obesity. In the „Million Women Study“ 1.2 million British women were observed for an average of around six years in terms of age, alcohol consumption, smoking, socioeconomic status and physical activity. Study Director Dr. Bette Liu said that the combination of obesity and alcohol increased the numbers of severe liver disease.

The scientists of the University of Oxford had the numbers of so-called „Midspan Studies“ examined. These were reviews in the west of Scotland, which began in the 1960s and included around 30,000 people. They found that in heavy drinkers with 15 or more alcoholic drinks, the week to increase the risk of dying from liver disease is 3.2 times higher. With concomitant obesity, the risk increased by a factor of seven. Unfortunately, in the studies little is known about the physiological background or theoretical models to explain the numbers. (Thorsten Fischer, Naturopath Osteopathy, 13.03.1010)

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