Drinking alcohol daily increases risk of liver Cirrhosis – Study

An agency report said on Tuesday that daily drinking of alcohol increases the risk of its related liver cirrhosis, a new study found.

It is generally believed that overall alcohol consumption is the major contributor to cirrhosis. But, these new findings suggest that how often you pour yourself a cocktail or beer – as well as recent drinking – plays a significant role, the researchers said.
Cirrhosis, scarring of the liver, is the final phase of alcoholic liver disease, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

In men, drinking every day raised the risk for cirrhosis more than less frequent drinking. And recent drinking, not lifetime alcohol consumption, was the strongest predictor of alcohol-related cirrhosis, the researchers reported online Jan. 26 in the Journal of Hepatology.

“For the first time, our study points to a risk difference between drinking daily and drinking five or six days a week in the general male population, since earlier studies were conducted on alcohol misusers and patients referred for liver disease and compared daily drinking to ‘binge pattern’ or ‘episodic’ drinking,” said lead investigator Dr. Gro Askgaard, of the National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark.

“Since the details of alcohol-induced liver injury are unknown, we can only speculate that the reason may be that daily alcohol exposure worsens liver damage or inhibits liver regeneration,” Askgaard added in a journal news release.


For the study, researchers looked at data on nearly 56,000 people, aged 50 to 64, in Denmark. Participants filled out food frequency questionnaires and answered questions about their lifestyle habits, including how much beer, wine or hard liquor they drank each week. They were also asked to recall how much they drank, on average, in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s.

Of the total, 257 men and 85 women developed cirrhosis, the researchers found.
Up to a moderate level of weekly consumption, wine appeared to be associated with a lower risk than beer and liquor, the researchers said.
The same general trends were found in women, but no firm conclusions could be reached due to a lack of statistical significance, the study authors said.
Experts welcomed the report.

“This is a timely contribution about one of the most important, if not the most important risk factor for liver cirrhosis globally, because our overall knowledge about drinking patterns and liver cirrhosis is sparse and in part contradictory,” said Jurgen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
Rehm, who was not involved with the study, said the report “not only increases our knowledge, but also raises questions for future research.”

However, “the question of binge drinking patterns and mortality is far from solved,” he added, saying there may be genetic differences or other factors not yet discovered that also play a role.

This story was published in Newswatch Times on January 23, 2016.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Insurgency: Nigerian Army Clears 25 More Children Of Links With Armed Groups, Says UNICEF

Image
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said Thursday that 25 more children had been freed from Nigerian Army administrative custody having been cleared of suspected links with armed groups. With this number, a total of 44 children had been released this year, bringing the number to 1,627 children since 2016, that is four years now, the UN agency for children has said. UNICEF which announced this in a press statement signed by its Communication Specialist, Dr. Geoffrey Njoku, specifically said, “Twenty-three boys and two girls were released today from Nigerian Army administrative custody after being cleared of suspected ties with armed groups. This brings the number of children released this year to 44,” it added. It bemoaned the discrimination, deprivation and cruelty which the children have suffered. “These are children taken away from their families and communities, deprived of their childhood, education, health-care, and of the chance to grow up in a safe and enabling envir
Read more

Limited Information Frustrates Young Women From Using Family Planning

Image
BY CHIOMA UMEHA, Awareness and proper understanding of family planning has been recognised to reduce maternal death among young women of reproductive age between 15 and 49. Data on Sexual Reproductive Health outcomes in Nigeria stresses the importance of focusing on adolescents. At 576 maternal death per 1,000 live births, Nigeria accounts for 14 percent of the global burden of maternal mortality (NDHS 2013/WHO 2014). Global evidence shows that young girls bear a higher burden of maternal mortality and morbidity. Data shows that the average age at sexual debut is roughly 15 years of age among adolescent mothers in Nigeria. (NDHS 2003, 2008, 2013). The National adolescent fertility rate in Nigeria is 122 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years. In the North Western States, it is as high as 171 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 years. To stem this, the government of Lagos State with support from partners and other donor agencies has put in place youth-friendly he
Read more

PSN President Commissions ACPN National Secretariat

Image
Chioma Umeha History was made among the community pharmacists recently, as the national body of the Association of Community Pharmacists (ACPN) inaugurated its National Secretariat at Ikeja, Lagos State. The event was graced by many notable personalities in the pharmaceutical sector including, Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) who commissioned the befitting edifice. Other notable guests at the event were – Dr. UNO Uwaga, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for ACPN; Pharm. Bukky George, the Managing Director of Healthplus, among many former presidents of different pharmaceutical bodies. Pharm. Yakasai stated that it was a thing of joy for him to see this development come to light. He said that he is ‘a proud father’ as the inauguration of the building was a “testimony of when you have a proud son who can carry out directives.” He described the secretariat as “A home for all pharmacists across board.”
Read more