Vitamin A link in treatment of alcoholic liver disease

The future development of novel treatments for alcoholic liver disease may focus on counteracting alcohol's effect on vitamin A levels in the live, new research suggests. Writing in The FASEB Journal, the researchers report that chronic alcohol consumption has a dramatic effect on the way the body handles vitamin A. Long-term drinking lowers vitamin A levels in the liver, which is the main site of alcohol breakdown and vitamin A storage, while raising vitamin A levels in many other tissues.