IT’S AN INSIDE JOB –
Nov. 10, 2025 – “Our findings show that alcohol doesn’t just damage the liver directly, it hijacks the body’s sugar metabolism in a way that enhances drinking behavior and worsens liver injury,” said Miguel A. Lanaspa, DVM, PhD, “By targeting fructose metabolism, we may be able to break this cycle and develop new treatments for both alcohol addiction and liver disease.” Because both alcohol-associated liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) involve fructose-driven processes, the study indicates that therapies aimed at blocking fructose metabolism could help a wide range of patients with liver problems connected to alcohol or diet. “This discovery highlights an unexpected intersection between sugar and alcohol metabolism,” said Richard Johnson, MD, professor at CU Anschutz and study co-author. “It opens exciting possibilities for developing treatments that target a common pathway underlying both metabolic and alcohol-related liver diseases.”
