Get Healthy!

• Posted August 28, 2025

Diet, Exercise Protect Liver Health From Alcohol Damage, Study Says

Enjoy a pint of beer, a glass of wine or a dram of whiskey?

Then make sure you have some healthy eats and a good dose of exercise on the side, a new study says.

A healthy diet and regular physical activity can protect your liver at least partially from the harmful effects of alcohol, researchers reported Aug. 27 in the Journal of Hepatology.

Any amount of daily alcohol intake or binge drinking increases a person’s risk of death from liver damage, researchers found.

But a good diet and more exercise significantly blunt that risk, even if you’re a heavy drinker or binge drinker, results revealed.

“We found that adherence to high levels of physical activity and/or diet quality was associated with a lower risk of liver-related death across all drinking patterns,” said senior researcher Dr. Naga Chalasani, a professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

In the U.S., more than half (53%) of adults regularly imbibe, and about 178,000 people die from excess alcohol use each year, researchers said in background notes.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 60,000 participants in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1984 and 2018. The survey asked people about their alcohol use, diet and exercise.

Researchers defined heavy drinking as more than three drinks per day for women and more than four for men. Binge drinking was four or more drinks for women or five or more for men on a single occasion and over two hours.

Death records showed that about 250 of the survey participants died due to liver problems during 12 years of follow-up, researchers said.

Average daily alcohol intake increased the risk of liver-related death by about 4% in men and 8% in women, results show.

Binge drinking is particularly dangerous for liver health, increasing the risk of death by 52% in men and 2.5 times in women, the study says.

But exercise and healthy eating provided some protection against the liver damage done by alcohol, researchers said:

• Physical activity lowered the risk of death 36% among heavy drinkers and 69% among binge drinkers.

• A healthier diet lowered death risk by 86% among heavy drinkers and 84% among binge drinkers.

• Even people who drank occasionally had a 65% lower risk of liver-related death from a healthier diet and a 48% lower risk from exercise.

A healthy diet is rich in vegetables, fruits, grains, seafood, plant-based proteins and healthy fats, researchers said. It’s also lower in “empty calories” from solid fats, alcohol and added sugars.

People were considered physically active if they reported moderate exercise five or more times a week or vigorous exercise three or more times a week.

The results also showed that while women face a significantly higher risk of alcohol-related liver death than men, they also get more powerful protection from exercise and a healthy diet.

“The uniqueness of our study lies in its ability to simultaneously assess the moderating effects of two important lifestyle behaviors on liver mortality risk across different levels and patterns of alcohol consumption in a representative U.S. population, offering a more nuanced and complete view of the risks of drinking,” Chalasani said in a news release.

More information

Johns Hopkins Medicine has more on alcohol-associated liver disease.

SOURCES: Elsevier, news release, Aug. 27, 2025; Journal of Hepatology, Aug. 27, 2025