Dr. Heather Moday is a board-certified allergist, immunologist, integrative and functional medicine physician, and the author of The Immunotype Breakthrough. After years of working as an allergist and immunologist in private practice, she completed a fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the Arizona Center of Integrative Medicine in Tucson, and became certified by the Institute for Functional Medicine. Through her practice, The Moday Center, she works to empower people to reclaim their health through comprehensive lifestyle programs, which focus on reversing chronic disease, as well as creating optimum wellness.

“One drink is probably not going to make a difference, quite honestly. The amount of toxins that we get in through the air, food, water, etc are probably way more than one drink. But if you like to have a drink two to three times a week, that’s going to give you a little bit more of a burden.

The thing is, alcohol is ethanol. We actually use alcohol as a macronutrient. It has calories in it; that’s one of the reasons why people gain weight when they drink a lot. I think it has 7 calories per gram. Obviously, we know that you can use alcohol for fuel, but the problem with ethanol is that when you drink it, it gets broken down in the liver into these intermediates. The liver needs to neutralize it because it can cause liver and cell damage.

So there’s no disadvantage in taking a little Glutathione and some N-Acetyl Cysteine; we know that can be helpful. And then, of course, Vitamin C. You can use other things to protect your liver in general from damage. I'm a big fan of Milk Thistle, that can be really wonderful. Alcohol depletes other things, too, like B Vitamins. It depletes Thiamine (B1) which can really be problematic for your brain.

I think that moderate consumption of alcohol is more of an issue than someone who's once or twice a month going to have a glass of wine. Usually you're going to be fine with that and you don't have to do anything.”

Want more? This is an excerpt from a longer convo with Dr. Heather Moday — listen or watch here!

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