Fatty Liver Disease & You?
You have probably heard about fatty liver disease before, but you might not know what causes it, why it is on the rise and how much it could impact you! Fatty liver disease is a condition where excess fat accumulates in the liver cells. This chronic disease causes a lot of inflammation and injury to liver cells and can lead to impaired function of those liver cells over time. It can also cause cirrhosis of the liver which is like a scarring of the liver tissue and can lead to liver failure. Furthermore, fatty liver disease puts you at an increased risk for liver cancer and has a strong correlation with cardiovascular risk. Typically, people think of this condition as something that is caused by excessive alcohol consumption over many years and that can be true, however, in recent years this condition has had a significant increase in prevalence, and it is not due to alcohol!
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease now affects approximately 45% of adults and approximately 25% of children. This is something that wasn’t even a thing 50 years ago. So, what’s causing it? Sugar. I don’t mean the sugar found naturally in whole fruits and vegetables. That sugar, when consumed in its whole food form, comes with fiber and antioxidants and vitamins and that affects how your blood sugar responds and how you metabolize it. I am talking about excessive added sugars like sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup. It’s the sugar they put in just about everything that is highly processed. It’s in crackers, it’s in yogurt, it’s in chips, and even a jar of tomato sauce if you buy the wrong one! It is in so much now that the average American consumes approximately 150 pounds of sugar per year. That number has doubled over the last 100 years! This is one of, if not THE major contributing factor for all of chronic disease – hypertension, obesity, heart disease, cancers, dementia, and now non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – a whole new condition that is affecting people at an alarming rate.
You see, sugar operates in the liver in a very similar way to alcohol. Excess fructose is metabolized in the liver and leads to an increase in triglycerides (a type of fat). This fat gets stored in the liver and causes inflammation and cellular damage, and some research argues that it changes the gut microbiome in a way that also affects fatty liver disease.
So, what can you do about it? First, for the love of all things good, cut out the highly processed foods from your life. No more boxes of cookies, crackers, pasta. No more chips, flavored yogurts and store-bought salad dressings. Say goodbye to soda and if you live in the south, sweet tea! Don’t buy bread that has 20 ingredients and is made to sit on the shelf. When you do buy processed food items, buy them as minimally processed as possible, meaning fewer ingredients. Read the ingredient labels and be familiar with the approximate 50 different names for sugar. As I always recommend, don’t buy food products that have items on their ingredient list that you don’t know what they are. When you choose processed items, choose healthier ones - like seed crackers or quinoa and brown rice pasta, tortilla chips cooked in avocado oil, plain greek yogurt and eat carbs in moderation. And finally, start learning to prepare your own meals. This doesn’t have to be complex or difficult. It will be hard at first because it is an adjustment, but in time, you will feel better and look better. The good news is that if your liver has already started down the path of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, these lifestyle changes can help you to stop it in its tracks and reverse it.
For more information on how to make these lifestyle changes and become healthier, visit the website at thehealthandwellnessnp.com. It starts with one simple change at a time, and you can easily change one thing!