Liver Damage Is More Likely Among Women Who Drink A Lot, Compared To Men

Drinking culture among young girls can lead to liver damage at an early age, warns Prof Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England.

"Our alcohol consumption is out of kilter with most of the civilized world. We really have young people that binge drink and drink too much and it is damaging their livers young," Davies told the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4, according to a report in The Telegraph. "Particularly girls don't realize that our female livers don't tolerate alcohol as well as men do. We should drink significantly less than men. Part of it is culture and part of it is price. We need to change both."

Although the ratio of people dying due to liver disease and cirrhosis is 16 out of 100,000 people, this number can also be avoided with a certain precaution, Davies said in the same report published in The Telegraph.

Davies highlights the reason for the disease is "eating too much and drinking too much alcohol," however, it can be prevented. "Liver disease is one of the few major causes of premature death that is on the increase and urgent action is needed to halt this trend. There are simple steps we can all take by cutting down on alcohol, eating less and moving more. Undiagnosed hepatitis B and C are also major causes of liver diseases," she further added.

Experts in the field explained how essential it is to educate people about this damage and prevention of the same is vital. Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, explained with an example in a report by The Telegraph: "GPs have to work harder to explain to people that liver disease is a hidden disease. It has always been called alcoholic liver disease, making people assume it only strikes very heavy drinkers when in fact it is the housewife who puts the children to bed and drinks a bottle of wine a night, even if she shares one with her husband."