Filter 1: Liver, your multifunctional marvel
Think your liver is just there for you to abuse at happy hour? Well go easy on it, because in addition to processing booze, this 3½-pound gland—the largest in your body—has at least 250 functions. Primarily, it filters bacteria and pollutants from your blood. It also produces bile, a viscous goo that breaks down fat for digestion and absorption. “These functions begin to suffer when alcohol injures your liver or a poor diet causes extra fat to build up in your liver,” says Paul Martin, M.D., the chief of hepatology at the University of Miami. When fatty liver occurs in people who don’t drink heavily, it’s associated with the same risk factors as those of metabolic syndrome: obesity, diabetes, and high triglyceride levels.
Keep it clear: Hitting the gym for an extra 10 minutes a day helps ensure that your liver stays on top of its responsibilities. In a 2009 study in Hepatology, people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease who increased their exercise by 60 minutes a week for 3 months reduced their levels of four enzymes that indicate liver problems. “Exercise removes fat from the liver,” says study author Jacob George, M.D., a professor of gastroenterology and hepatic medicine at the University of Sydney.
But you can easily undo your gains if you drink too much. While the occasional beer is fine—especially if it’s one of the best beers in America—avoid binges of five or more drinks on a single occasion. And be careful about what you consider to be “a drink.” One standard drink contains 0.6 ounces of alcohol, but a 2008 study from the Alcohol Research Group of the Public Health Institute found that in bars, the average glass of wine contains 43 percent more alcohol than that 0.6 ounces. The average draft beer has 22 percent more, and mixed drinks contain 32 percent more. So even if you limit the number of drinks, you could still be imbibing more alcohol than you intended to.
By Matthew Solan, Men’s Health