India, April 6 -- People may assume that if they drink lightly during the week or month, heavy drinking on the occasional Friday or Saturday may not cause their liver harm.

New research suggests otherwise, according to a Keck Medicine of USC study published recently in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Researchers discovered that people with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the most common liver condition in the country affecting one-in-three adults, face significantly higher risk of liver fibrosis, or harmful scarring of the liver, if they engage in episodic heavy drinking.

Those who consume large amounts of alcohol in a single day at least once per month are three times more likely to develop ...