Obese drinkers more prone to liver aliments

The British Medical Journal has reported that obese people who drink at least a glass of wine daily have almost double the risk of liver diseases than others.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow claim that alcohol consumption by obese people causes a double whammy effect, wherein two different causes of liver diseases together impact on a person's liver, and the impact of the attack is much higher than the sum of the causes.

Study conducted on a million women
The study named “million women study” conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford looked at more than a million middle-aged women from England and Wales for nearly 6 years.

Out of the women who drank a third to half units a day, 0.8 in 1000 would develop cirrhosis in the next five years if they are of healthy weight as compared to 1 in 1000 women who are obese, revealed the study.

The researchers further reported that among women who drank 2.5 units daily, 2.7 in 1000 would develop cirrhosis if they are of healthy weight as compared to 5 in 1000 if they are of excess weight.

Dr Bette Liu of Oxford's Cancer Epidemiology Unit said: "We estimate that almost 20% of liver cirrhosis in middle-aged UK women is due to excess weight, while almost 50% is due to alcohol consumption."

Study conducted by Boffins from the Universities of Glasgow
The second study followed approximately 9000 men in Scotland, whose drinking habits were closely looked at by the researchers for 29 years.

The results of the study revealed that obese men drinking 15 units a week had 19 times greater risk of liver diseases than those who were slim.

Prevention better than cure
Authors of both the researchers have suggested that “safe” limits of alcohol need to be redefined for the obese drinkers.

Lead author Dr Carole Hart of the University of Glasgow said: "Further research might show that there could be different limits more applicable to overweight and obese people."