Charles S. Lieber
Encyclopedia
Charles Saul Lieber was a clinical nutritionist
who established that excess alcohol consumption can cause cirrhosis
of the liver
even in subjects who have an adequate diet, contradicting then-current scientific opinion.
Lieber was born on February 13, 1931, in Antwerp, Belgium
, and was forced to flee with his family to France
, and later Switzerland
, as World War II
loomed. He spent most of the war with a Swiss family that had taken him in from a refugee camp. He attended college in Belgium after the war, where a portion of his stomach was removed due to complications of a peptic ulcer
. At the University of Brussels school of medicine, his ulcer led him to investigate its causes, prior to his graduation in 1955.
He continued research there after graduation, until a fellowship took him to Boston City Hospital
and Harvard University
. There he was troubled by the belief in the profession that cirrhosis
in alcoholics was caused by malnutrition and not alcohol itself, having seen alcoholics in Belgium who had liver disease even with a proper diet and based on research by Dr. Charles Best (co-discoverer of insulin
) that showed that alcohol had no greater an effect in rats than sugar water. Lieber pursued Best's theory that excessive amounts of alcohol damaged the liver.
He was hired by Manhattan
's Bellevue Hospital Center
in 1963, where he successfully pleaded for a grant from the National Institutes of Health
which would be used for his investigations on alcohol in baboon
s. He was admitted to the faculty of Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center and was appointed as a professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
in 1968, where he identified the biochemical processes used in the human body to metabolize alcohol. In a 1974 study, he showed that baboons who had been given a normal diet combined with the equivalent of about 750 millilitre (0.026455471578834 oz) of alcohol daily for four years experienced cirrhosis, contradicting medical dogma that inadequate nutrition combined with alcoholism
caused the disease. Other research showed that the effect of even social drinking on the liver can cause it to create toxic substances, increasing the sensitivity of even social drinkers to acetaminophen, anesthetics and certain solvents
Lieber found that administering antibiotics to alcoholics with liver disease caused by their condition would have less ammonia
converted from urea
in their stomach, which he credited to bacteria in the stomach that he had seen using his microscope and that had been killed by the antibiotic treatment. As the medical wisdom at the time stated that bacteria could not survive in the stomach's acidic environment, his research was largely ignored. It was not until the 1980s, when researchers Dr. Barry Marshall
and Dr. Robin Warren
identified the bacteria Helicobacter pylori
in the stomach as a cause of ulcers and stomach cancer, for which they won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
.
He pushed the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
to create the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
in 1977 as an academic journal for articles regarding alcohol abuse and its treatment, to disseminate research in a field that was minimized by other medical professionals who did not believe that alcohol research was a legitimate avenue for research and that there was nothing medicine could do to address the problems of alcoholism.
A 1990 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine
showed that women feel greater effects than men from equivalent amounts of alcohol adjusted for body size due to lower amounts of a stomach enzyme that metabolizes the alcohol and keeps it from entering the bloodstream, though the study did not explain the cause of this enzymatic discrepancy. Lieber indicated that this finding might account for why women who become alcoholics are more likely to experience liver damage.
Other research performed by Lieber showed that hepatitis
could be triggered by consumption of alcohol. He pioneered the therapeutic use of the coenzyme S-Adenosyl methionine
as a theraputic means to prevent liver toxicity.
Lieber died at age 78 on March 1, 2009 of stomach cancer
at his home in Tenafly, New Jersey
. Lieber was survived by his second wife, Dr. Maria Leo-Lieber, as well as three daughters, two sons and six grandchildren. His earlier marriage, to Adele Tornhadjm, ended in divorce.
Nutritionist
A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition impacts on health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts — some examples include: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical...
who established that excess alcohol consumption can cause cirrhosis
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
of the liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
even in subjects who have an adequate diet, contradicting then-current scientific opinion.
Lieber was born on February 13, 1931, in Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and was forced to flee with his family to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and later Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
loomed. He spent most of the war with a Swiss family that had taken him in from a refugee camp. He attended college in Belgium after the war, where a portion of his stomach was removed due to complications of a peptic ulcer
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
. At the University of Brussels school of medicine, his ulcer led him to investigate its causes, prior to his graduation in 1955.
He continued research there after graduation, until a fellowship took him to Boston City Hospital
Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center is a non-profit 639 licensed-bed medical center in Boston, Massachusetts. It was created by the formal merger of Boston City Hospital which was the first municipal hospital in the United States and Boston University Medical Center Hospital in July 1996 which was sponsored...
and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. There he was troubled by the belief in the profession that cirrhosis
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
in alcoholics was caused by malnutrition and not alcohol itself, having seen alcoholics in Belgium who had liver disease even with a proper diet and based on research by Dr. Charles Best (co-discoverer of insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
) that showed that alcohol had no greater an effect in rats than sugar water. Lieber pursued Best's theory that excessive amounts of alcohol damaged the liver.
He was hired by Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Bellevue Hospital Center
Bellevue Hospital Center
Bellevue Hospital Center, most often referred to as "Bellevue", was founded on March 31, 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Located on First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Bellevue is famous from many literary, film and television...
in 1963, where he successfully pleaded for a grant from the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
which would be used for his investigations on alcohol in baboon
Baboon
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
s. He was admitted to the faculty of Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center and was appointed as a professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is an American medical school in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, currently ranked among the top 20 medical schools in the United States. It was chartered by Mount Sinai Hospital in 1963....
in 1968, where he identified the biochemical processes used in the human body to metabolize alcohol. In a 1974 study, he showed that baboons who had been given a normal diet combined with the equivalent of about 750 millilitre (0.026455471578834 oz) of alcohol daily for four years experienced cirrhosis, contradicting medical dogma that inadequate nutrition combined with alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
caused the disease. Other research showed that the effect of even social drinking on the liver can cause it to create toxic substances, increasing the sensitivity of even social drinkers to acetaminophen, anesthetics and certain solvents
Lieber found that administering antibiotics to alcoholics with liver disease caused by their condition would have less ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
converted from urea
Urea
Urea or carbamide is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO2. The molecule has two —NH2 groups joined by a carbonyl functional group....
in their stomach, which he credited to bacteria in the stomach that he had seen using his microscope and that had been killed by the antibiotic treatment. As the medical wisdom at the time stated that bacteria could not survive in the stomach's acidic environment, his research was largely ignored. It was not until the 1980s, when researchers Dr. Barry Marshall
Barry Marshall
Barry James Marshall, AC, FRS, FAA is an Australian physician, Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine, and Professor of Clinical Microbiology at the University of Western Australia. Marshall is well-known for proving that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori Barry James Marshall, AC, FRS, FAA...
and Dr. Robin Warren
Robin Warren
John Robin Warren AC is an Australian pathologist, Nobel Laureate and researcher who is credited with the 1979 re-discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, together with Barry Marshall.- Life and career :...
identified the bacteria Helicobacter pylori
Helicobacter pylori
Helicobacter pylori , previously named Campylobacter pyloridis, is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium found in the stomach. It was identified in 1982 by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, who found that it was present in patients with chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers, conditions that were...
in the stomach as a cause of ulcers and stomach cancer, for which they won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
.
He pushed the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence was founded in 1944 by the first female member of Alcoholics Anonymous , Marty Mann . It has a nationwide network of 95 affiliates around the United States...
to create the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research is a scientific journal covering research concerning alcohol abuse and its treatment. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism.- Abstracting...
in 1977 as an academic journal for articles regarding alcohol abuse and its treatment, to disseminate research in a field that was minimized by other medical professionals who did not believe that alcohol research was a legitimate avenue for research and that there was nothing medicine could do to address the problems of alcoholism.
A 1990 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine
New England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
showed that women feel greater effects than men from equivalent amounts of alcohol adjusted for body size due to lower amounts of a stomach enzyme that metabolizes the alcohol and keeps it from entering the bloodstream, though the study did not explain the cause of this enzymatic discrepancy. Lieber indicated that this finding might account for why women who become alcoholics are more likely to experience liver damage.
Other research performed by Lieber showed that hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...
could be triggered by consumption of alcohol. He pioneered the therapeutic use of the coenzyme S-Adenosyl methionine
S-Adenosyl methionine
S-Adenosyl methionine is a common cosubstrate involved in methyl group transfers. SAM was first discovered in Italy by G. L. Cantoni in 1952. It is made from adenosine triphosphate and methionine by methionine adenosyltransferase . Transmethylation, transsulfuration, and aminopropylation are the...
as a theraputic means to prevent liver toxicity.
Lieber died at age 78 on March 1, 2009 of stomach cancer
Stomach cancer
Gastric cancer, commonly referred to as stomach cancer, can develop in any part of the stomach and may spread throughout the stomach and to other organs; particularly the esophagus, lungs, lymph nodes, and the liver...
at his home in Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
. Lieber was survived by his second wife, Dr. Maria Leo-Lieber, as well as three daughters, two sons and six grandchildren. His earlier marriage, to Adele Tornhadjm, ended in divorce.