Wine doubles risk to obese women's livers

Published on Thursday 11 March 2010 21:35

OVERWEIGHT women almost double their risk of liver disease by drinking just two glasses of wine a day, according to new research.

And obese men who drink at least one pint of beer a day are nearly 19 times more likely to develop the country's fifth biggest killer than normal or underweight teetotallers.

The two new studies, published online in the British Medical Journal, show that obesity and alcohol act together to increase the risk of liver disease in both men and women. Anyone with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more is classified as obese.

Epidemiologist Dr Bette Liu said obesity causes a build-up of fat within liver cells resulting in fatty liver, which can subsequently lead to inflammation and cirrhosis.

Dr Liu, of the University of Oxford, said: "Fatty liver is also found in people with a high alcohol intake and diabetes.

"From a public health perspective, reducing both excessive alcohol consumption and excessive body weight should lead to a reduction in the incidence of liver cirrhosis."

The researchers said in middle-aged women in the UK, about 17 per cent of liver cirrhosis cases is attributable to being overweight, compared with 42 per cent attributable to alcohol.

Dr Liu added: "We found that in middle-aged UK women, being overweight or obese increases the likelihood of developing liver cirrhosis compared with being a healthy weight."

Dr Sarah Wild, of the University of Edinburgh, who reviewed the studies for the journal, said future research must focus on better diagnosis and treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In the meantime, the old adage of "prevention is better than cure" remains pertinent.

She added: "Reducing alcohol consumption and obesity are, at present, our only weapons against non-viral liver disease."