WINE GOOD FOR LIVERS???????

As a doctor I have always been led to believe that any alcohol was dangerous to liver cells. Now it seems that for certain types of fatty liver disease that a little booze may be helpful. When you think of it a bit it does make sense that all these very obese people are getting fat in their arteries as well as in the liver. Soooooo, maybe this article makes a bit of sense. Anyway, this news report caught my eye and I wanted to pass it on.

The solution is to limit fats in your diet (not much fat in a glass of wine) and protect both you liver and arteries. At the same time do take in that good ole glass or two of Hawks Nest Orchard Block red wine!!!

More soon

Dr JIm

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WINE CAN HELP YOUR LIVER OUT

Date: Thu 29 May 2008

Those who are at risk already of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) face the extra possibility of experiencing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

This is the most common liver disease in the US, affecting over 40 million adults, but was almost unknown 20 years ago; it is thought to be linked with obesity.

There appears to be no mention in the relevant literature of any study being carried out to examine the possibility of there being a possible relationship between modest wine consumption and the incidence of NAFLD. Accordingly, scientists at the University of California, San Diego decided to look for this by analysing data collected in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Their study sample consisted of 7,211 non-drinkers and 945 drinkers of modest amounts of wine, selected from those surveyed who reported that they either were abstainers or consumed daily up to ten grams of alcohol.

Multivariate analysis was adjusted for age, caffeine intake, education, income, neighbourhood, physical activity, race and sex.

The possibility of NAFLD being present was based on levels of unexplained serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) being above the cut point of the reference laboratory (ALT > 43) and the cut point based on the 95th percentile of healthy subjects (for men, ALT > 30 and for women ALT > 19).

As a result, based on the reference laboratory cut point, NAFLD presence was suspected in 3.2 percent of the non-drinkers and in 0.4 percent of the modest drinkers of wine. Consumers of beer and spirits were four times as likely as wine drinkers to have suspected NAFLD.

Using the healthy subject cut point, NAFLD presence was suspected in 14.3 percent of the non-drinkers and 8.6 percent of the wine drinkers.

The researchers conclude therefore that there is an association between the modest consumption of wine and a reduced prevalence of suspected NAFLD. They suggest that one glass of wine taken daily offers some cardio protection for people who are at risk of suffering CHD and NAFLD but warn that more work needs to be done to identify the specific compound in wine which confers beneficial health effects.

Hepatology 47(6):1947-1954, 2008 : Modest wine drinking and decreased prevalence of suspected nonalcoholic fatty liver disease / Dunn W, Xu R, Schwimmer JB