Consuming Alcohol can have a DIRECT and, in excess, a NEGATIVE impact on vital organs, including the pancreas and the liver, which are responsible for much of our metabolic functioning.
Your Energy Balance Organ - The Pancreas
Your pancreas largely regulates the storage and mobilizing of energy in your body. This energy balance organ helps regulate your body’s insulin and glucagon production and response to glucose, or sugar energy in your blood stream. Alcohol consumption places a tax on your pancreas heightening the risk of blood sugar issues and conditions, and at its simplest, that alcohol could prevent the pancreas from being able to manage your release and storage of energy. Cumulative alcohol consumption can create an abnormal buildup of digestive enzymes produced by the pancreas, leading to greater complications and side effects including pancreatitis, hypoglycemia, and even diabetes.
Your Filter Organ - The Liver
Your liver is an amazing metabolic machine! It sorts and removes toxins from our blood stream, storing and releasing vitamins, and breaking down fats and proteins. The liver metabolizes most of the alcohol we drink, as that alcohol shoots directly to this organ to be processed as a toxin. The cumulative effect of consuming alcohol day by day and over time can lead to chronic liver inflammation, a fatty liver, cirrhosis, and even liver failure. The good news? The Liver is one of the organs in our body that can regenerate itself almost wholly! So if there is minimal damage from overconsumption of alcohol or sugar or other toxins, when we remove these things, this metabolic, immune system saver can be regenerated and do it's job better. So it's worth it to remove those toxins, and that's what we're doing by limiting your alcohol consumption!
Not Just Alcohol, but Fruit Juices, too!
Fructose is fruit sugar, but is also present in many other sugar substitutes and table sugar. If you consume juice alone, it's more along the equivalent lines of consuming many many pieces of fruit all at once, stripped of fiber and the things that slow digestion and absorption of micronutrients. That means the fructose shoots right to your liver which has to metabolize most of it, just like alcohol. In fact, the overconsumption of fructose from consuming juices, processed foods and sweeteners can lead to a non-alcoholic fatty liver, where an excess of fat builds up in the liver and can damage it and cause chronic inflammation.
These are just some primary highlights about alcohol's effects. Check out the image for other info on what alcohol consumption can lead to.
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