New evidence suggests alcohol can rewire metabolism so liver cells start making their own sugar—fructose—through a pathway usually associated with diet. That shift points to an enzyme, KHK, that may quietly link brain reward circuits to inflammation and scarring in the liver. For a long time, alcohol-associated liver disease was framed mostly as a direct toxic injury: alcohol enters the body, the liver breaks it down, and damage accumulates. But a November 18, 2025 study from the University of C