There is no safe level of alcohol consumption

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Editor's note: A few weeks ago, a stable cirrhosis patient asked me this question in my outpatient office. He was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease-related cirrhosis without any liver-associated complications. “Sir, is it ok if I have a couple of drinks every other week?” Now that he was confident that his liver functions were normal, he wanted to be sure. “Imagine I am a police officer, and you are at my station,” I told him. “Would you ask me if you could stab but not kill someone every other year? Or would you ask a traffic police officer if you could drive without wearing a seat belt every other week?” He looked at me sheepishly as he got the point. He used to be a social drinker, someone who drank alcohol in a variety of social settings. But being a social drinker does not exempt one from Alcohol Use Disorder, defined by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the US as “a chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by an impaired ability to stop or control alcohol use despite …