Liver disease: NHS Doctor talks about link with alcohol
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Fatty liver disease is the eventual result of an accumulation of fat in your liver. It can be caused by drinking alcohol or by other factors not related to alcohol. The latter is referred to as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
The condition is regarded as pernicious because there are usually no symptoms that alert you to its progression.
However, warning signs may occasionally emerge on your face, warns the Digestive Health Associates of Texas (DHAT), an association of doctors based in the US.
According to DHAT, yellowing of the whites of the eyes and skin may signal the serious condition.
Other symptoms include:
- Abdominal pain or a feeling of fullness in the middle or upper right portion of the abdomen
- Loss of appetite or weight loss
- Nausea
- Weakness or extreme fatigue
- Abdominal and leg swelling
- Mental confusion.
How to fatty liver disease is diagnosed
According to the NHS, fatty liver disease is often diagnosed after a blood test called a liver function test produces an abnormal result and other liver conditions, such as hepatitis, are ruled out.
But blood tests do not always pick up NAFLD.
“The condition may also be spotted during an ultrasound scan of your tummy,” explains the NHS.
This is a type of scan where sound waves are used to create an image of the inside of your body.
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Am I at risk of fatty liver disease?
Experts don’t know exactly why some people accumulate fat in the liver while others do not.
Similarly, there is limited understanding of why some fatty livers develop inflammation that progresses to more serious complications.
Fatty liver disease is mainly driven by excessive alcohol consumption but NAFLD has been associated with heart disease markers.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the following can increase your risk:
- Overweight or obesity
- Insulin resistance, in which your cells don’t take up sugar in response to the hormone insulin
- High blood sugar (hyperglycemia), indicating prediabetes or type 2 diabetes
- High levels of fats, particularly triglycerides, in the blood.
“These combined health problems appear to promote the deposit of fat in the liver,” explains the health body.
“For some people, this excess fat acts as a toxin to liver cells, causing liver inflammation and NASH, which may lead to a buildup of scar tissue in the liver.”
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is an aggressive form of fatty liver disease.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “it is marked by liver inflammation and may progress to advanced scarring (cirrhosis) and liver failure”.
How to slow down the damage
If you have fatty liver disease, you can make lifestyle changes to help stop it getting worse.
One of the most important countermeasures is to lose weight.
“This can reverse some of the build-up of fat and even some of the fibrosis in your liver,” explains Bupa.
The health body adds: “It’s important not to lose weight too quickly though, because this could cause problems with your liver.”
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