Abstract: Alcohol-induced liver injury (AILI) is a clinically common type of liver injury that is mainly caused by long-term excessive intake of alcohol. Sustained or severe alcohol liver injury can cause pathological changes to liver tissues, which may develop into fatty liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis, or even liver cancer. AILI has become one of the major global public health concerns. Therefore, how to effectively protect against AILI is gradually becoming the focus of research in the fields of medicine and functional foods. In recent years, natural compounds with the advantages of low side effects and multiple pathways of action and targets have attracted considerable attention. A variety of food-derived natural compounds have been reported for their hepatoprotective activities against AILI. In this article, we review the main pathogenesis of AILI and the protective effects of food-derived natural compounds on AILI, which will hopefully provide a theoretical rationale for further research to prevent AILI and develop new hepatoprotective drugs or functional foods.

Key words: food-derived; natural compounds; alcohol-induced liver injury; protective effects