Fatty Liver Disease: What It Is And What To Do About It
Fatty liver disease is a very common condition and it happens when fat builds up in the liver. Though a small amount of fat in your liver is normal, too much fat can cause health problems. Nearly 40-60% of the USA population are suffering from this disease. This disease is detected accidentally when imaging or CT or scan is required for some other diseases. Excessive fat in your liver can cause liver inflammation and this can damage your liver and create scarring. In severe cases, this may lead to liver failure. Sometimes, fatty liver disease may enhance the risk of cardiovascular disease.
If you are suffering from fatty liver disease, you should consult with the best liver doctors in India. For this purpose, you can take help from Livonta Global which is tied up with many best liver hospitals in India.
Types of Fatty Liver Disease
There are commonly two types of fatty liver disease are they are,
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) or simple fatty liver disease
- Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
Difference Between NAFL and NASH
It is very important for the patients to understand the difference between simple fatty liver and NASH. Because most of the people who have simple fatty liver doesn’t cause sickness related to the liver. On the other hand, people with NASH have inflammation and injury to their liver cells. This can lead to some more serious conditions like fibrosis (scarring) of the liver, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Most people with NAFLD have simple fatty liver and not NASH. Near about 3% to 7% of the US population has NASH.
A liver biopsy will help you to understand whether the person has a simple fatty liver or NASH.
Symptoms of Fatty Liver Disease
In many cases, fatty liver causes no noticeable symptoms. But if you have experienced the below-mentioned symptoms, you should consult with the doctor.
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- weakness
- fatigue
- nosebleeds
- itchy skin
- yellow skin and eyes
- web-like clusters of blood vessels under your skin
- abdominal pain
- abdominal swelling
- swelling of your legs
- breast enlargement in men
- confusion
Causes of Fatty Liver Disease
Fatty liver develops when your body produces too much fat or doesn’t metabolize fat properly. The excess fat is then stored in liver cells and causes fatty liver disease. The prime reasons for this fat deposition are,
- Obesity
- High blood sugar
- Insulin resistance
- High levels of fat
Treatment of Fatty Liver
If you are diagnosed with fatty liver, it is important to keep your liver healthy as much as possible.
- Don’t drink too much alcohol because this may worsen the condition. The best way is trying to avoid alcohol completely.
- Get vaccinated to protect against liver viruses like hepatitis A and B.
- Eat a balanced diet that is low in excess calories, saturated fat, and trans fats. Eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and more fish and lean poultry.
- get at least 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week.
- If you can lose weight up to 5% of your body weight, then it might improve abnormal liver tests and decrease the fat in the liver. On the other hand, losing between 7% and 10% of body weight seems to decrease the amount of inflammation and injury to liver cells.
- A plethora of medical studies have proved that patients with NAFLD who drank coffee (about two cups every day) had a decreased risk of fibrosis.
Drug Therapy
Till now, there are no FDA-approved medications for fatty liver disease. But as per the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the best two drugs are vitamin E (an antioxidant) and pioglitazone (used to treat diabetes). But not everyone is recommended to take these drugs because they might cause side effects. Hence, you should consult with the doctor before consuming these drugs.
So, the best way to improve your fatty liver disease condition is to control your lifestyle and give more focus to your diet.
Connect with Livonta Global which will help you to get admitted to a reputed liver hospital in India if you are diagnosed with fatty liver disease.
Liver Transplant TreatmentTags: best liver hospitals in India, Causes of Fatty Liver Disease, Fatty Liver Disease, liver doctors in India, Symptoms of Fatty Liver Disease