What causes fatty liver?
Fatty liver disease is an extremely common condition. Approximately one in five overweight people have a fatty liver. We certainly see a great number of these people at our clinics. Many of our patients are quite confused about the term fatty liver and I don't blame them because it sounds like an insult. It is, however, a medical term and means that the liver has accumulated too much fat inside it, and fat cells have actually taken the place of normal healthy liver cells. This means you have less liver cells to carry out the important jobs your liver does each day.Most people think a fatty liver is caused by eating too much fat. This is definitely not always the case. You can follow a low fat diet and eat fat free foods, yet still end up with a fatty liver.
The causes of fatty liver include –
By far the most common cause is incorrect diet such as- Diets high in refined carbohydrates
- Diets high in unhealthy fats such as deep fried foods, chips/crisps, margarine and most vegetable oil
- Diets low in plant food such as fruits and vegetables
- Diets low in anti-oxidants especially vitamin C and selenium
- Diets low in good quality protein
Lack of exercise will make you insulin resistant, especially if you have a high carbohydrate diet. Insulin resistance and high insulin levels are known as Syndrome X. Syndrome X is the most common cause of fatty liver disease today. There is a diet to reverse fatty liver in my book Fatty Liver: You Can Reverse It.
Other causes of fatty liver:
Liver damage from prescribed medications such as some anti-inflammatory drugs, immuno-suppressants, analgesics, and cholesterol lowering drugs etc. Drugs that may cause or contribute to fatty liver include – Amiodarone, Perhexiline, Paracetamol, the calcium channel blockers diltiazem and nifedipine, methotrexate, chloroquine, hycanthone, synthetic oestrogens, the glitazone drugs used in diabetics, and Tamoxifen. This list is not exhaustive and some people can have very severe unusual reactions to drugs that other people do not have; these are called idiosyncratic drug reactions. Always check with your doctor if you are taking long term medications, to find out if they have potential side effects on your liver. If they do, make sure that you have a regular liver function test, and if any damage shows up, your doctor can change your medications to more liver-friendly types of drugs.Liver damage from recreational drugs such as alcohol, narcotics, and amphetamines etc, especially as huge doses of these substances may be used in addicted persons.
Liver damage from exposure to environmental toxins such as solvents, dyes, plastics, glues, insecticides, pesticides, dry cleaning fluids, harsh detergents and many industrial chemicals. Many of these toxins find their way into our water ways and food chain, so this further increases the workload of the liver. Those in the following occupations are more at risk of chemical-induced fatty liver damage – dry cleaners, agricultural workers, plumbers, painters, printers, mechanics, hair dressers, nail technicians and factory workers in some industries. Despite the fact that occupational health and safety measures have improved dramatically over the last few years, chemical-induced fatty liver cases are still occurring. I am amazed at just how little care some people take of their liver; they do not wear gloves or masks when handling poisons and they use insecticides to great excess. I often watch in horror as some of the people I work with, heat their food in a plastic container, covered with glad wrap in a microwave oven. Well the over use of microwave ovens in itself has unknown dangers, but if you heat food in plastic containers in a microwave, your liver is going to be eating plastic.
Family history of fatty liver or cryptogenic cirrhosis increases your risk of developing a fatty liver.
Being overweight and/or diabetic increases your risk of fatty liver, and fatty liver is present in 57-74% of obese individuals. Fatty liver is found in 95% of patients undergoing surgery for morbid obesity. This association can be compared to the “chicken and the egg” relationship. In other words, what comes first? In the majority of cases the fatty liver leads to being overweight in the first place and then the excess weight makes the fatty liver progress to a more severe degree. This is why it’s so hard for overweight persons with a fatty liver to lose weight, unless they first improve their liver function. Livatone Plus contains herbs and nutrients that help to support liver health, protect liver cells from damage and even help to regenerate damaged liver cells.
Rapid weight loss – such as in those with eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia. It is important to avoid very rapid weight loss if you have a fatty liver and that is why fasting or extreme fad diets are dangerous in such cases.
Gastric bypass surgery (jejuno-ileal bypass) for the treatment of morbid obesity can cause fatty liver.
Thus you can see that there are several possible causes of fatty liver disease, and in some sufferers there are multiple causes acting together. It is thought that those with the more benign condition of “simple fatty liver”, will only progress to the more severe form of fatty liver known as NASH, if they experience other insults to their liver. This could include the use of liver toxic drugs, poor diabetic control, infections, excess iron in the body, heavy smoking or exposure to toxic chemicals.
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