News Taffy

As if you needed one more reason to lead a healthy lifestyle, today’s topic is fatty liver. In this case, I’m not talking about the delicacy foie gras, but instead about a condition that often affects the liver of heavy drinkers, those who are obese or have type 2 diabetes. Though it may seem like a benign affliction, it is becoming more common due to the obesity epidemic and can lead to cirrhosis (liver failure) or liver cancer.

The liver is the largest solid organ in the body and is actually part of the digestive system. It produces chemicals needed for digestion and filters harmful substances from the blood. The liver can not function properly when it accumulates too much fat. While the most common cause of fatty liver is heavy drinking (most alcoholics will develop fatty liver), other causes are being obese, having high levels of fat in the blood or hyperlipidemia, diabetes, side effect of certain medicines and interestingly enough, rapid weight loss.Acute fatty liver is a rare complication of pregnancy which can be life threatening.

Fatty liver disease can be divided into 2 additional types if you are not an alcoholic or pregnant; if you have fat deposits but no liver damage, it is called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or NAFLD but if you have signs of inflammation and cell damage it is called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, NASH. While fatty liver disease often has no symptoms, some people may experience severe fatigue, nausea, weight loss, loss of appetite, yellowing of the skin or abdominal pain. Fatty liver disease mostly affects middle aged adults though it is sometimes seen in younger patients.

Fatty liver can be detected by examining your abdomen if your liver is inflamed and blood tests may show that your liver enzymes are higher than normal. Fat deposits on your liver will show up in an ultrasound, CT or MRI but the only way to definitively diagnose fatty liver is through a liver biopsy.

Lifestyle changes such as avoiding alcohol, losing weight and controlling your diabetes can reverse or control the fat deposits in your liver. If your disease has progressed to NASH, there are no medications or other treatments available. Once you develop cirrhosis, you may be placed on a liver transplant list.

Fatty liver is just one more piece of an overall poor health picture. My husband sees patients with fatty liver all the time and feels it is the next wave of problems associated with obesity. It is just another reason to take care of yourself as well as you can to avoid the terrible problems associated with obesity, diabetes and alcoholism. If you think it is too much trouble to eat healthy foods and exercise, how much trouble is it to feel bad, miss work and spend hours upon hours at the doctor’s office or the hospital? How much money will you spend on medicine and doctors that could be spent on something more fun or necessary for your family? How many important family events will you miss due to poor health and who will you be letting down?

The choice is real and the choice is yours. Are you worth it?