Alcohol is a major cause of morbidity from liver disease.  This can range from fatty liver to alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis.  Alcohol-related cirrhosis is a major cause of death and can present with signs and symptoms including jaundice and blood clotting problems and can be associated with gastrointestinal bleeding from esophageal varices.  Alcoholic hepatitis can be asymptomatic and detected with abnormalities in liver enzymes or present as an acute episode with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and fever.  The development of cirrhosis is increased in carriers off hepatitis viruses. Moderate alcohol use can be protective for the development of cirrhosis and there is evidence that the drinking of wine can have a protective effect.
 
Chronic alcohol abuse can result in inflammation in the esophagus and stomach with gastritis.  There is an increased rate of peptic ulcer disease.  There is also an increased rate of acute and chronic pancreatitis, four times that in the general population, and it can be life threatening.   There is decreased diabetes mellitus in people with moderate alcohol consumption, which appears to be related to increased insulin sensitivity.