We all know that drinking alcohol can easily damage the liver and lead to alcoholic liver disease. However, in professional life and social gatherings, it's simply impossible to avoid alcohol. So, what can be done? Let me share seven tips to help you drink without harming your liver. To prevent alcoholic liver disease from the root cause, the only way is to drink less. A small amount of daily alcohol can even have health benefits! Master these seven tips and you'll no longer have to worry!
Seven tips to drink without harming your liver:
1. Avoid hard liquor whenever possible. Hard liquor refers to high-concentration alcoholic beverages such as whiskey, brandy, and baijiu. According to a research report released by the University of Southern California, if women drink more than two servings of hard liquor per day, in addition to damaging the liver and increasing the risk of breast cancer, their risk of developing endometrial cancer more than doubles.
2. Don't drink on an empty stomach. When you eat while drinking, the alcohol stays in the stomach longer. The interference from stomach acid slows down absorption, making it less likely to get drunk. If you drink on an empty stomach, your stomach will increase the absorption of alcohol, causing the blood alcohol concentration to rise very high, putting you in a dangerous state of numbness.
3. Drink warm wine instead of cold beer. Cold beer is very harmful. Its temperature is 20-30°C lower than the human body temperature, and drinking a large amount can cause a rapid drop in gastrointestinal temperature and reduced blood flow, leading to physiological dysfunction. Heating the wine before drinking can cause some low-boiling harmful aldehydes in the alcohol to evaporate, reducing the harmful components.
4. Don't mix different types of alcohol. Different types of alcohol have varying ingredients and alcohol content. Mixing them can sometimes lead to discomfort after drinking, or even headaches. For example, beer and baijiu should not be mixed, as it can make you get drunk more easily and may cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and even other symptoms of poisoning.
5. It's best to use fruit juice as a remedy for intoxication. Especially orange and apple juice, they contain fructose, which can help the body burn alcohol more effectively and have a great effect on sobering up.
6. Don't gulp your drinks. There is a bad social custom of competitive drinking, which is actually very harmful. Gulping large amounts of alcohol is a burden and a damage to your stomach, intestines, and liver. It's worth noting that you should avoid carbonated drinks like cola and soda when drinking, as they can speed up the body's absorption of alcohol.
7. Eat more green leafy vegetables and bean products when drinking. The antioxidants and vitamins in green leafy vegetables can protect the liver, while the lecithin in bean products also has a protective effect on the liver.
When alcohol enters the human body, it is absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract into the blood and then metabolized in the liver. If the liver has to metabolize large amounts of alcohol over a long period, it becomes a heavy burden, leading to liver damage. This damage then forms alcoholic liver disease. To protect your liver, not only should you drink less, but a high-fat diet is also unacceptable. Excess fat will accumulate in the liver, leading to fatty liver.