What makes alcohol harmful to mammals? During the alcohol metabolic pathway, harmful by-products are made like acetaldehyde, hydroxyethyl, superox­ide anions, and hydroxyl radicals. How do these toxic compounds harm our tissues? Many of these intermediates are the compounds that are responsible for hangovers, but are they also the molecular cause of liver damage?

Superoxide radicals , basically damage the lipid bilayers. affecting the efficient gradient. for example H+ ion gradient across lipid bilayer in ETC is very important. this gradient is affected if superoxide radicals are present.