Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Charles Lieber, pioneer in alcoholism research

Dr. Charles S. Lieber, who overturned conventional wisdom by demonstrating that alcohol is a toxin that can damage the liver and that alcoholism is a disease that can be treated, died March 1 at his home in Tenafly, N.J. He was 78 and had been battling stomach cancer.

Before his work in the 1970s, researchers had thought that alcohol itself was harmless and that cirrhosis of the liver occurred because most alcoholics suffered from malnutrition. Alcoholism was considered a moral defect.

Lieber showed otherwise and demonstrated that excessive drinking could change the metabolism in the liver to convert a number of normally harmless chemicals, including acetaminophen, into toxins.

“If you look at his contributions, we all owe Dr. Lieber an enormous debt of gratitude for helping to set into place the science that supports all the work around alcohol and alcoholism,” said Robert Lindsey, president and chief executive of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

“Even today, the government standards for how much a normal person can drink are based on his research,” added Dr. Norman Pace, a longtime researcher in alcoholism. “The most important thing you can say about him is ‘The guy should have gotten a Nobel Prize.'”

When Lieber began his work in the 1960s, physicians generally assumed alcohol was a relatively harmless chemical, like sugar, and the liver damage associated with excessive drinking occurred because the drinkers had a poor diet.

In hospital experiments in New York, Lieber fed baboons the equivalent of a fifth of liquor daily for up to four years and reported they developed cirrhosis even though their diet was very healthful.

He subsequently demonstrated the existence of two enzyme systems in the liver affected by persistent drinking and demonstrated that women – unlike men – do not have one of the enzymes in the lining of their stomachs. Lieber also showed alcohol consumption promotes hepatitis and pioneered the therapeutic use of the supplement S-adenosylmethionine or SAMe, to prevent liver toxicity.

Lieber is survived by his second wife, Dr. Maria Leo-Lieber; three daughters, two sons and six grandchildren.

source: Los Angeles Times

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Zero tolerance alcohol policy good choice for parents

Restaurants in Germany legally sell alcohol to teenagers after their sixteenth birthdays and French children drink wine with dinner at an early age, but U.S. parents who follow this relaxed European example, believing it fosters a healthier attitude toward alcohol, should be careful — it may increase the likelihood that their children binge drink in….

Treatment centers

Today’s life of the individual has become very fast paced. The room for family and social life is narrowing day by day. An individual is facing many problems and experiences tension and stress at his workplace and at home. Therefore, the emotional support that is needed by an individual is inadequate. All these situations are….

Alcoholics to lecture young on dangers of drink

Health boards are to receive £36m to help fight Scotland’s culture of alcohol abuse. Part of the funding will be spent on projects where recovering alcoholics will mentor youngsters on the dangers of drinking too much. The largest single handout will go to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which will receive more than £9m. NHS….

Low vitamin D heightens breast-cancer mortality rate

Disease twice as likely to spread in women deficient in the nutrient, study finds Women diagnosed with breast cancer are nearly twice as likely to have the disease spread to other parts of their bodies and are 73 per cent more likely to die from it if they have low levels of vitamin D, according….

Recovered Alcoholics Still Face Difficulties Recognizing Emotions

Though they may have recovered, a new study confirms that alcoholics may still face social difficulties. Now, researchers have demonstrated that after recovery, the brains of people suffering from alcoholism still process things differently, which may lead to difficulties recognizing emotions in others. The researchers looked at brain scans of 15 former alcoholics and 15….