What happens to the liver when a person stops drinking?

According to Greek mythology, Zeus punished Prometheus for giving fire to humanity. He ordered Prometheus to be chained to a rock and sent an eagle to feast on his liver. Each night, the liver would regenerate, and every day the eagle returned for its meal. So, can this vital organ really regenerate?

The liver is the largest internal organ in the human body. It is essential for hundreds of processes, including breaking down toxins like alcohol. Since it is the first organ to encounter ingested alcohol, it’s no surprise that it is the most susceptible to its effects.

Dr. Ashwin Dhanda, a hepatologist from the University of Plymouth in the UK and a consultant on alcoholic liver disease, explains this. He meets daily with individuals suffering from alcohol-related ailments. These range from fatty liver disease to the formation of scar tissue (cirrhosis). Typically, these conditions show no symptoms until the later stages of damage.

What Happens to the Liver of a Heavy Drinker

Alcohol causes the liver to become fatty. This fat leads to inflammation. In response, the liver attempts to heal itself by forming scar tissue. If this continues unchecked, the entire liver can turn into a network of scars with small surviving islands. This is what cirrhosis looks like.

In the later stages, when the liver begins to fail, a person may develop jaundice (yellowing of the skin), swell from fluid retention, become lethargic and disoriented, and ultimately say goodbye to life.

Those who regularly drink more than the recommended limit experience fatty liver. (The officially accepted weekly alcohol limit in many countries is 14 units: that’s about six pints of average-strength beer or six 175-milliliter glasses of wine).

How Quitting Alcohol Correlates with Liver Health

Fortunately, there is good news, as reported by Science Alert. In people with fatty liver, just two to three weeks of abstaining from alcohol can allow the organ to fully regenerate and function like new.

Even within seven days of quitting alcohol, individuals with liver inflammation or minor scarring show a noticeable reduction in fat and scar tissue. Meanwhile, stopping alcohol consumption for several months can enable the liver to completely recover and return to normal.

For alcoholics with severe scarring or liver failure, quitting alcohol for several years reduces the risk of liver failure and death.

However, those who drink heavily and regularly should be aware that sudden cessation of alcohol can have unpleasant consequences. Someone with a mild dependence on alcohol may experience body tremors and sweating. In severe cases, withdrawal can lead to hallucinations, seizures, and even death. It is not recommended for regular drinkers to quit abruptly. Ashwin Dhanda believes they should consult a doctor for safe ways to stop drinking.

The Benefits of an Alcohol-Free Life

According to the expert, quitting alcohol positively impacts sleep, brain function, and blood pressure levels.

If one refrains from drinking for an extended period, the risk of developing certain types of cancer (liver, pancreas, and colon) significantly decreases. The likelihood of suffering from cardiovascular diseases and having a stroke also diminishes.

However, as Dr. Ashwin Dhanda noted, alcohol is not the only cause of poor health. Quitting it is not a cure-all. The fact of being alcohol-free should be viewed as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet and regular exercise.

So, in response to the myth about Prometheus, we can say that the liver has an incredible ability to regenerate after damage. But unfortunately, it cannot become new again if it has serious scarring.

The expert recommends that if you truly want to take care of your liver, drink in moderation and schedule two to three alcohol-free days each week. “This way, to stay healthy, you won’t have to rely on the magic of liver self-healing,” said Ashwin Dhanda.