Liver disease is on the rise, and scientists may have discovered one of the reasons why, AzVision.az reports citing express.co.uk.

An ingredient in beer could be encouraging people to drink too much, which risks harming their livers.

German researchers discovered that a substance found in the popular alcoholic drink, hordenine, could lift people’s mood.

This is because it stimulates the reward centre in the brain to trigger a feel-goof effect via a neurotransmitter - or chemical messenger - called dopamine.

Researchers at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany studied 13,000 food components to see how they influenced the brain.

Hordenine - also present in malt barley - was one of the components found to activate the dopamine D2 receptor.

“It came as a bit of surprise that a substance in beer activates the dopamine D2 receptor, especially as we were not specifically looking at stimulant foodstuffs,” said Professor Monika Pischetsrieder.

They believe that the results indicate that hordenine probably contributes to the mood-boosting effect of beer.

However, further research into hordenine and beer is needed to confirm this.

The study findings add to previous findings that some foods have the ability to make us feel good.

This is the reason why people can struggle to stop eating when they’ve consumed enough calories.

The drive to eat for pleasure rather than to satisfy a biological need is known as ‘hedonic hunger’ by scientists.

Beer and other alcoholic drinks are known to contribute to liver disease if consumed in excess.

In 2014 it was reported there had been a 14 per cent rise in liver disease deaths in the previous 12 years.

Indeed, it is the only major cause of death still increasing year-on-year, according to the British Liver Trust.

Other causes of liver problems include infection - such as Hepatitis A, B and C - and cancer.

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