AURORA, Colo. - UCHealth reports that the number of liver transplants needed because of a patient's alcohol use has been on the increase in recent years."Alcohol is currently the leading indication for liver transplants in America. Half of liver transplants are a consequence of alcohol use disorders," said Dr. Jame Burton, liver transplant medical director at UCHealth. "I'm seeing, for the first time in my career, people being referred for liver transplantation in their early 20s. A decade, two decades ago, it was old men in their 50s and 60s. It's certainly a very, very big shift." Younger people, particularly young women, make up much of the increase. In 2016, UCHealth had one liver transplant patient the entire year, an older woman who needed the procedure because of alcohol use. That number has since shot up and stayed relatively high since. In 2023, 19 patients required a liver transplant because of alcohol in 2023. "I think we have a problem with alcohol in America. It's something that's highly available to everyone. It's kind of socially acceptable," said Dr. Burton, "The advertising for it, I think, the social aspects of it, and I think a lot of people just need to be aware of the fact that there's really no amount of alcohol that's good for you."The liver is the only internal organ that can regenerate if given a chance. Dr. Burton encourages people to join the popular "Dry January" trend and go without alcohol for a while."I'm not saying everyone needs to quit drinking, but I think everyone needs to take a step back and really look at how much they're drinking. That's probably the biggest benefit of Dry January," said Dr. Burton. "There's an incredible regenerative process of the liver, so if you do have fat in the liver and inflammation from alcohol, you can start to see that improvement within a month."