Scientists have discovered a surprising link between how our body processes sugar and how alcohol affects us.
This new finding could help create better treatments for alcohol-related liver disease and alcohol addiction.
In a recent study published in the journal Nature Metabolism, researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz found that drinking alcohol can activate a process in the body that creates fructose.
Fructose is a type of sugar often found in soft drinks, candy, and other sweet foods. The body produces it internally when alcohol is consumed, and this may play a big role in encouraging people to drink more and in damaging the liver.
This sugar-making process is controlled by an enzyme called ketohexokinase, or KHK for short.
In tests with mice, the scientists found that mice who didn’t have this enzyme drank less alcohol. They also showed less activity in brain areas linked to addiction. In other words, without this enzyme, the mice were less interested in drinking.
More importantly, when KHK was blocked—either through medication or by altering genes—the mice were also protected from liver damage caused by alcohol. Their livers didn’t collect as much fat, didn’t become inflamed, and didn’t develop the scarring that usually happens from heavy drinking. This suggests that by stopping the body from making fructose, we might be able to prevent or even stop liver disease caused by alcohol.
Dr. Miguel Lanaspa, one of the lead researchers, said that alcohol doesn’t just hurt the liver directly—it changes how the body handles sugar, which makes people more likely to keep drinking and causes more damage. By focusing on how the body creates and uses fructose, doctors might be able to help people stop drinking and protect their livers at the same time.
The study also points out that this sugar-related process could be behind other types of liver disease too. For example, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (or MASLD) is linked to unhealthy diets and also involves fructose. So the same kind of treatment might help people with diet-related liver problems too.
Dr. Richard Johnson, another researcher involved in the study, said this discovery connects sugar and alcohol in a way we didn’t expect. He believes this could lead to exciting new treatments that help with both metabolic and alcohol-related liver conditions.
In short, this research opens a new door in the search for better ways to treat liver disease and alcohol addiction. Current treatments are limited, but targeting fructose metabolism could give doctors a new way to help patients heal and recover.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about a diet that can treat fatty liver disease and obesity, and coffee drinkers may halve their risk of liver cancer.
For more information about liver health, please see recent studies that anti-inflammatory diet could help prevent fatty liver disease, and results showing vitamin D could help prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
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