ABSTRACT
Alcohol is a product of the fermentation of carbohydrates with yeast. The use of alcohol as a component of the human diet can be traced to ancient times, and possibly as far back as the prehistoric era (McGovern 2009). The increased central nervous system effects observed when alcohol is ingested without food intake (Sedman et al. 1976) demonstrates the initial interaction between nutritional status and alcohol. Publications linking alcohol to increased mortality due to liver damage began to appear in the medical literature in the 1920s (Pearl 1926). Although early research on the effects of alcohol on the liver may have been confounded by the presence of additional, as yet to be identi-˜ed, liver diseases, such as hepatitis C or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, the hepatotoxic nature
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 91 Alcoholic Liver Disease ..............................................................................................................92 Malnutrition and Alcoholic Liver Disease ..................................................................................93 Fat and Alcoholic Liver Disease .................................................................................................94 Caffeine (Coffee) and Alcoholic Liver Disease ..........................................................................95 Betaine and Alcoholic Liver Disease ..........................................................................................95 Micronutrients and Alcoholic Liver Disease ...............................................................................95
