May Protect Your Liver From Alcohol-Induced Damage

Too much alcohol may be harmful to your health, particularly your liver. Surprisingly, research reveals that glycine may help to minimize the negative effects of alcohol on your liver by avoiding inflammation. It has been demonstrated to lower alcohol concentrations in the blood of alcohol-fed rats by increasing alcohol metabolism in the stomach rather than the liver, preventing the development of fatty liver and alcoholic cirrhosis.

Furthermore, in animals, glycine may help restore liver damage induced by heavy alcohol use. While abstaining from alcohol can repair modest alcohol-induced liver damage, glycine may enhance the healing process. In a study of rats with alcohol-induced liver impairment, a group fed a glycine-containing diet for two weeks recovered to baseline 30% quicker than a control group. Despite encouraging results, research on the benefits of glycine on alcohol-induced liver injury has been restricted to animals and cannot be extrapolated to humans.