Is there any difference from your livers perspective to drink slower, but still at capacity (i.e. 1 standard drink per hour) or is it the same as drinking a lot of drinks at the same time and the liver getting ‘backed up’? Is one of them better for your liver? Is there a ‘waiting room’ per se?

Question

Is there any difference from your livers perspective to drink slower, but still at capacity (i.e. 1 standard drink per hour) or is it the same as drinking a lot of drinks at the same time and the liver getting ‘backed up’? Is one of them better for your liver? Is there a ‘waiting room’ per se?

In: 200

Answer 1

Disclaimer: not a professional in any way but I have an anecdotal response.

48yo male and I drink a lot, but rarely get really drunk (maybe once every couple of months I’ll let loose and not remember the night before). Weekends I’ll usually be drinking before midday and on into the night, weekdays maybe 3pm into the night, sometimes start earlier. So I go through a lot of booze, but, again, usually keep it to a moderate rate of consumption. I’ve been doing this for about 15 years. I fully understand that this is not healthy and the next part of what I am about to say should not be taken as a recommendation to my stupid drinking choices/addiction.

I get a blood test once every 6 months or so and my liver function (AST/ALT) to date have always been within normal levels. Ultrasounds have also shown healthy function.

So, (again anecdotally and my single data point) drinking in the manner I described has not had dire consequences to my liver according to the tests mentioned.

Weight gain on the other hand……

YMMV