Give your liver a break

The liver plays an important role in the breakdown process of alcohol. It is therefore no surprise that this organ recovers considerably from a deliberately induced alcohol break. Read here how your liver experiences this recovery period and what gains your body makes.

Before we go into more detail about how your liver develops when you take an alcohol break, we will first show you how your liver breaks down the alcohol you consume on the basis of three steps.

Step 1: The liver breaks down the alcohol into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a poisonous substance, it affects the organs and is, among other things, responsible for the hangover.

Step 2: The liver breaks down the acetaldehyde into acetic acid.

Step 3: The acetic acid is broken down into water and carbon dioxide. Water and carbon dioxide are excreted through urine and breath.

Pause!

The claim that the liver rests and recovers with a month of alcohol break is not a fluke, but is supported by research. Researchers from Radboudumc, together with the NTR television program De Kennis van Nu, the test of the sum. Fourteen moderate drinkers and the presenters of De Kennis van Nu did not drink alcohol for a month before the study. To exclude coincidences, nine abstainers participated as a control group. What turned out? An alcohol-free month caused the cholesterol levels to drop, the belly fat to decrease and the levels in the blood, which indicate an irritation of the liver and the decay of liver cells, also decreased.

Bycatch

And there is even more good news: not only will your liver recover from an alcohol break, you will also feel fitter, sleep better and have more money for other things during this period. So that's a win-win-win-win situation.

Need even more information regarding the liver? Check:

alcoholinfo.nl/lever

trimbos.nl/lever

healthierlife.com/lever