Muscles,
Joints,
& Bones

Liver

The liver is the largest organ in your body. It has many jobs, such as keeping poisons out of your blood and making protein. As alcohol enters the bloodstream, the liver breaks most of it down into acetic acid so your body can get rid of it.

If you drink a lot of alcohol quickly, your liver won’t be able to break it down fast enough. When the liver has too much to handle, alcohol goes into your bloodstream. When this happens, you become intoxicated, which means drunk and poisoned. The word “intoxicated” refers to alcohol being a toxin—a poison.

Over time, alcohol can harm your liver and cause a disease called cirrhosis that keeps the liver from doing its job.