How are hepatitis and pancreatitis related to alcohol?
February 19, 2021
How are hepatitis and pancreatitis related to alcohol?
Have you ever heard of people who have suffered from liver problems or acute pancreatitis due to alcohol?
Hepatitis and pancreatitis are very scary diseases. The liver and pancreas are called “silent organs,” and it is often difficult to notice subjective symptoms of the disease, and by the time symptoms are noticed, the disease is already difficult to treat.
So what does hepatitis and pancreatitis have to do with alcohol?
About Hepatitis
First, let me explain about hepatitis.
Hepatitis is a disease caused by inflammation of the liver, resulting in symptoms such as fever, general malaise, and jaundice.
About 80 percent of hepatitis is caused by a virus, but alcohol can also be a cause.
This means that drinking too much alcohol can cause hepatitis.
Alcohol and Hepatitis
So how does alcohol cause hepatitis?
When you drink alcohol, it is absorbed by the stomach and intestines, and then transported to the liver through the blood vessels. There, the alcohol is decomposed into acetaldehyde.
This acetaldehyde is a poisonous substance, but the liver further breaks down the acetaldehyde into harmless acetic acid. About 80% of the metabolism of acetaldehyde takes place in the liver organ.
The fact that the liver metabolizes acetaldehyde, which is a poison, means that the liver is totally affected by the poison.
Acetaldehyde is an extremely oxidizing poison, and the oxidative stress it produces rusts the body. In areas exposed to oxidative stress, something similar to the inflammation of skin that has been exposed to bleach occurs. That’s how hepatitis occurs when the liver can no longer withstand the oxidative stress.
Even if you don’t develop hepatitis, drinking a certain amount of alcohol over a long period of time can lead to a condition called “fatty liver”.
Fatty liver is a condition in which fat accumulates in the cells of the liver, and you can think of foie gras served in French cuisine. The human liver also becomes fatty, just like foie gras. Foie gras is delicious when it is fatty, but nothing good can come from fat in the human liver.
As the condition of fatty liver continues, the liver cells themselves die. The dead cells become like hard fibers. When this process progresses to the entire liver, it becomes a disease called “cirrhosis”.
It can lead to cirrhosis of the liver.
Cirrhosis of the liver can cause jaundice, loss of consciousness due to hepatic encephalopathy, and the formation of esophagogastric varices. Esophagogastric varicose veins are dangerous and can cause death if they rupture and cause massive bleeding. There is no medicine that can cure cirrhosis, and long-term treatment with dietary therapy is necessary.
Liver cirrhosis is also deeply related to oxidative stress.
Therefore, if you have liver problems, hepatitis, or fatty liver, you should try to avoid drinking alcohol as much as possible to prevent the condition from progressing. It is important to try to prevent the disease.
About Pancreatitis
Now, let me talk about pancreatitis next. When you have pancreatitis, you will experience symptoms such as abdominal pain and back pain, and if it persists for a long time, it can cause diabetes and digestive and absorptive problems.
There are two types of pancreatitis, acute and chronic, and the cause of about half of acute pancreatitis is unknown. It is said to be caused by abnormalities in the immune system, infections, or various other factors, but we do not know. Of the remaining half, the majority is due to “excessive drinking”. This accounts for about 40% of all cases.
The pancreas has two main jobs: one is to produce insulin, which lowers the blood sugar level in the blood, and the other is to digest food.
The pancreatic juice produced by the pancreas is responsible for digesting fats and proteins. When we eat from the mouth, the food enters the stomach, becomes small, and then goes to the duodenum. In the duodenum, the food is mixed with pancreatic juice and broken down. The nutrients that are broken down here are absorbed in the small intestine.
Therefore, if the pancreas is not in good condition, heartburn and weakness to fatty foods may occur.
Pancreatitis and Oxidative Stress
The pancreas plays such an important role, but in fact, pancreatic cells are extremely vulnerable to oxidative stress.
In other words, pancreatic cells are susceptible to damage when the body becomes rusty due to oxidative stress.
When you drink a lot of alcohol, a large amount of acetaldehyde, an oxidative stress substance, is produced and circulates in the body, damaging the pancreas. Think of acute pancreatitis as occurring when the pancreas can no longer withstand it.
Finally.
Both the liver and the pancreas are organs that are easily affected by alcohol, so please make sure to drink in moderation when drinking alcohol on a regular basis. It is too late for symptoms to appear.
