The liver processes the toxins we consume and renders them harmless in the body. The liver can only handle so much abuse, and in response to enough acute or chronic consumption, can go into varying degrees of failure. The liver is very able to cleanse the body of small intermittent quantities of alcohol, but with increasing consumption, the liver loses its ability to cleanse the blood and also becomes damaged. Alcohol abuse can cause liver imbalances that may lead to hypoglycemia, which is low blood sugar, hyperuricemia which causes arthritis, fatty liver deposits which can lead to cirrhosis, and hyperlipemia, which causes fats to be released into the blood stream causing heart problems. The liver is a regenerative organ, but in response to continued abuse may ultimately shut down, and once the liver is rendered ineffective, death soon follows.
page last update Aug 05, 2010
