What is the Origin of Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver?

This term is rooted in the physiological consequences of ethanol metabolism and the Greek word steatosis, meaning a fatty degeneration. Its clinical recognition emerged as medical science connected chronic, high-level alcohol ingestion with observable histological changes in the liver architecture. The concept links a specific exogenous toxin, ethanol, to a precise pathological outcome in human physiology.

What is the Mechanism of Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver?

Ethanol metabolism in the liver generates excess reducing equivalents, specifically NADH, which fundamentally alters the hepatocyte's metabolic balance. This shift promotes the synthesis of fatty acids and triglycerides while simultaneously inhibiting their oxidation and export from the liver. The resulting intracellular lipid overload impairs mitochondrial function and initiates cellular damage, contributing to a compromised endocrine axis due to the liver's role in hormone regulation and clearance.

Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver ∞ Area

Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver

Meaning

A clinical condition characterized by the pathological accumulation of triglycerides, a type of lipid, within the hepatocytes, the primary cells of the liver parenchyma, directly attributable to excessive alcohol consumption. This steatosis represents the earliest stage of alcoholic liver disease, reflecting a significant disruption in hepatic lipid metabolism. It is a reversible state if alcohol intake ceases, but it signals substantial physiological stress on the body’s central metabolic organ.