Ray Peat on Alcohol

Short answer: Ray Peat's website articles say little about drinking itself. Where alcohol appears, he treats it as a substance that pushes the cell toward a reduced, low-energy state, and he argues that the damage it does to the liver depends on the fat in the diet.

What Ray Peat wrote about alcohol

He described ethyl alcohol as a common, potentially toxic substance that lets an excess of electrons build up in the cell, moving it away from the stable oxidized state. Source: Sugar issues

He wrote that fructose speeds up the oxidation of alcohol, by about 80% in the research he cites, and prevents the oxidative damage by restoring the cell's redox balance. Source: Sugar issues

He cites the work of Nanji's group, in which saturated fats reversed the inflammation, cell death and scarring of alcoholic liver disease even while alcohol was continued, and fish oil and other unsaturated fats made it worse. Source: Fats, functions & malfunctions

In his list of the harms of polyunsaturated fats he states that they are required for alcoholic liver cirrhosis to develop. Source: Membranes, plasma membranes, and surfaces

Glycine protects against fat accumulation in alcohol-induced liver injury, which he took as a reason to add gelatin. Source: Fats, functions & malfunctions

He cites studies in which coffee drinkers who also drank alcohol had healthier liver enzyme levels and less cirrhosis. Source: Caffeine: A vitamin-like nutrient, or adaptogen. Questions about tea and coffee, cancer and other degenerative diseases, and the hormones

What he suggested in practice

• Saturated fat instead of unsaturated fat.
• Sugar or fruit, gelatin and coffee.
• None of this makes heavy drinking safe.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 37 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Fats and degeneration · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Eclampsia in the Real Organism: A Paradigm of General Distress Applicable in Infants, Adults, Etc · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Fats, functions & malfunctions · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Estrogen, progesterone, and cancer: Conflicts of interest in regulation and product promotion · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Progesterone Deceptions · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Caffeine: A vitamin-like nutrient, or adaptogen. Questions about tea and coffee, cancer and other degenerative diseases, and the hormones · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Food-junk and some mystery ailments: Fatigue, Alzheimer's, Colitis, Immunodeficiency · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Sugar issues · original on raypeat.com ↗

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about alcohol?

That it shifts cells toward a reduced, low-energy state, and that the liver damage linked to alcohol depends heavily on polyunsaturated fat in the diet. His articles do not give advice on how much to drink.

What protects the liver from alcohol, according to Ray Peat?

He cites studies on saturated fats, glycine, fructose and coffee, and on the harm added by fish oil and other unsaturated fats.