: Does drinking water mitigate the health risks from daily alcohol consumption? Is there any evidence that suggests that the health problems related with the chronic daily over consumption of alcoholic beverages can be mitigated

Vote Up Vote Down   0 Reactions

Login to give Reaction!

The most severe health risk from frequent alcohol consumption are liver damage and malnutrition. There are others, see my list of sources, but I'll focus on those two in my reply.

The malnutrition is mostly vitamin deficiencies: folate, vitamin B6, thiamine, and vitamin A. I think it's rather obvious that obvious that consuming more water will not help with those.

As for liver damage, that's caused by several things, among them:

Breakdown of alcohol into acetaldehyde, which damages the liver
Free radicals produced during alcohol metabolism leading to inflammation
Production of cytokines from this inflammation
Increase of the passage of toxins produced by bacteria into the liver

These will not be significantly prevented by drinking more water.

Water is good for preventing the short term effects of dehydration that often comes with alcohol intake. It is not enough to prevent the serious effects alcohol can have in the long term.

Sources

Alcohol and the liver

Cirrhosis

Mechanisms of vitamin deficiencies in alcoholism

Risks of alcohol misuse

Health Risks of Alcohol