Pattern of drinking is key: Binge drinking even on rare occasions affects liver function

While heavy alcohol use is linked with a wide variety of health problems, the question of whether differences in drinking patterns and in particular ‘binge drinking’ could yield different outcomes has remained unclear.
A study measured liver enzymes (ALT, GGT) from alcohol consumers with or without binge drinking from a population-based sample in Finland, where binge-type drinking is common. Data on alcohol use, diet, body weight, lifestyle (smoking, coffee consumption, physical activity) and health status were collected from 19,225 subjects (9,492 men, 9,733 women), aged 25-74 years. The participants were subsequently classified to subgroups both according to the frequencies of binge drinking and the amounts of regular alcohol intake (low, medium and high risk drinking).
The quantity of regular alcohol use was roughly linearly relatedwith GGTand ALT activities. Analyses of the trends according to the frequency of binge
drinking showed a significant GGT increase in both men and women and ALT in men. In those with low risk overall consumption, markedly higher GGT and ALT occurred in those with binge drinking more than once a month compared with those with no such occasions. Binge drinking occurring
≤ 1/month also resulted in higher GGT and ALT activities.
These results emphasise possible adverse consequences of binge drinking on hepatic function even in those with low-risk overall consumption (i.e only bingeing on occasions without drinking in between). The pattern of drinking should be more systematically implicated in clinical recommendations on drinking reduction, the authors state.
Source: Liver enzymes in alcohol consumers with or without binge drinking. Nivukoski U, Bloigu A, Bloigu R, Aalto M, Laatikainen T, Niemelä O. Alcohol. 2019 Mar 16. pii: S0741-8329(18)30353-7.