Key Points About Fatty Liver Disease

What is a fatty liver? A liver which has a fat storage of five to 15 percent of its total weight. This equates to a diagnosis of fatty liver disease.

A fatty liver can result in no obvious symptoms or it can cause one or more common fatty liver symptoms such as abdominal pain, abdominal swelling, jaundice, nausea, loss of appetite, fatigue, weakness and itching.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease affects people who drink little to no alcohol while alcoholic fatty liver disease is the result of excessive alcohol consumption.

For people who don’t excessively consume alcohol, other fatty liver causes include being overweight or obese, insulin resistance, high blood sugar and high levels of fats, particularly triglycerides, in the blood.

A healthy diet for fatty liver should include plenty of whole foods like liver-boosting artichokes and bitter leafy greens, fish rich in omega 3s and olive oil, high vitamin E foods like sunflower seeds and almonds, and green tea.

Supplements like probiotics, resveratrol, curcumin, vitamin E, vitamin C and vitamin D may help to naturally improve a fatty liver.

It’s also important to get regular exercise, which can help you to maintain a healthy weight and decrease fat accumulation in the liver.

Talk with your healthcare provider before changing your diet or trying any new supplements if you have been diagnosed with fatty liver disease.

Conventional Treatment of Fatty Liver

To diagnose a fatty liver, your doctor will likely perform blood and imaging tests. A liver biopsy may also be necessary.

Common conventional treatment recommendations for fatty liver disease involve eliminating or controlling the cause(s). For example, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, conventional fatty liver treatment may includes a doctor’s recommendation to lose weight loss since which helps to decrease fat in the liver as well as inflammation and fibrosis.

Rapid weight loss, however, is not a good idea since this can only make things worse. Gradually losing weight is the smart way to go. Some doctors may advise aiming to lose around 7 percent of body weight over a one year time frame.

Other recommendations may include:

Stop taking any drug that may be causing fatty liver

Better control diabetes

Lower triglyceride levels

Stop consuming alcohol

There are currently no approved medications to specifically treat NAFLD and NASH. Some doctors give their fatty liver patients vitamin E and thiazolidinediones (a class of drugs, including rosiglitazone and pioglitazone, commonly taken for diabetes) when alcohol is not the cause. However, these drugs can cause adverse effects and some say they don’t make enough of a difference long-term.

When NASH leads to cirrhosis, conventional treatment typically includes certain medications and possibly operations or procedures. When cirrhosis leads to liver failure, a liver transplant can be required.

Fatty Liver Diet and Supplementation

Are you wondering, how can I reduce my fatty liver? Some of the main natural tactics include following a healthy fatty liver disease diet loaded with whole foods. There are also a number of supplements that can be helpful as well.

1. Foods to Boost Liver Function

What foods to eat if you have a fatty liver? In general, you will want to incorporate more plant-based diet foods and choose helpful fatty liver foods including vegetables, fruits and healthy fats.

The following helpful foods are known to decrease inflammation while also aiding the body in its use of insulin, which is often a problem for people with a fatty liver:

Foods high in monounsaturated fats like olives, olive oil, avocados and nuts.

Foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids including wild-caught fish like salmon and sardines, chia seeds, flaxseeds and walnuts.

High antioxidant foods that can help to protect the liver cells from damage, especially items rich in vitamin E, which some research shows can improve the state of a fatty liver. Some healthy foods high in vitamin E include sunflower seeds and almonds.

Liver boosting vegetables including artichokes and bitter, leafy greens like mustard greens, chicory, arugul, and dandelion.

Green tea, which is rich in catechins, has been shown to help decrease body fat and discourage obesity.

2. A Mediterranean and Ketogenic Diet

You may want to consider following a Mediterranean diet, which some some studies have suggested can decrease fat in the liver. This diet emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, beneficial fat sources like extra virgin olive oil, and healthy proteins like sardines and other omega-3 fatty acid rich fish.

You can take it one step further and follow a Mediterranean ketogenic diet. A pilot study published in 2011 in the Journal of Medicinal Food finds that this type of combined diet plan which focuses on whole foods (especially healthy fats, proteins, and vegetables) can help people overcome metabolic syndrome, which is closely associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

So for people struggling with a fatty liver linked to metabolic syndrome, this study shows that the potential therapeutic properties of a Mediterranean ketogenic diet can improve metabolic syndrome along with NAFLD.

3. What Foods to Avoid

If you’re looking to follow a fatty liver diet menu and lifestyle that can help to improve the state of your liver, there are some things you’ll definitely want to avoid. Of course, excess alcohol is a huge no-no especially if you have alcoholic fatty liver disease.

There are also a number of foods and other items known to have a negative impact on the liver including:

Too much alcohol or caffeine

Packaged goods that contain refined vegetable oils, artificial ingredients, sweeteners and colors

Fruits and vegetables heavily sprayed with chemical pesticides and herbicides (non-organic crops)

Factory-farm animal products, farm-raised fish or conventional dairy (that has been pasteurized and homogenized)

Refined sugar as well as too much fructose

Refined grains

Uncooked shellfish

Certain medications (especially acetaminophen)

Eating poisonous wild mushrooms

Exposure to harsh chemicals especially endocrine-disrupting chemicals

You can check the LiverTox database provided by the National Institutes of Health to see if any medication, herb or supplement may be linked to liver injury so that you can avoid them as well.

3. Supplements that Boost Liver Health

According to a scientific review published in 2015, there are some supplements that have specifically been shown to help in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease including:

Vitamin E and vitamin C: Since oxidative stress can play a significant role in the development of pathogenesis of NAFLD, antioxidant agents like vitamin E and vitamin C could be beneficial in the treatment of a fatty liver. However, so far study results are unclear. For example, Vitamin E may only be helpful for adults with NASH who do not also have diabetes or cirrhosis.

Vitamin D: Research has shown that a vitamin D deficiency can result in insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and NAFLD.

Resveratrol: Found in red wine as well as foods like red grapes, raw cocoa (dark chocolate), berries and also available in supplement form, resveratrol appears to decrease the severity of NAFLD in animal models.

Anthocyanin: Animal research points towards anthocyanin‘s ability to decrease fat accumulation in the liver and counteract liver inflammation.

Green tea extract: Both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate that green tea and EGCG (a type of catechin) may prevent steatosis by decreasing dietary absorption of fats and carbohydrates.

Garlic: Garlic-derived S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC) appears beneficial to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease thanks to its ability to regulate fat storage and glucose metabolism.

Ginger: May help to prevent NAFLD or slow down its progression to more severe liver diseases.

Probiotics and prebiotics: As the review points out, “The gut-liver axis is an important pathway in NAFLD development, which is associated with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and increased intestinal permeability.” So in other words, SIBO and a leaky gut appear to be contributing factors to NAFLD, which is why prebiotics and probiotics can be so beneficial. You can incorporate more prebiotic and probiotic foods into your diet as well as high quality probiotic supplements.

Cinnamon: May improve insulin resistance and oxidative stress.

Curcumin: The active component of turmeric, curcumin, may reduce fat deposits in the liver. It may also prevent fatty liver progression with its “potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.”

Quercetin: Available as a supplement and also found in foods like apples and onions, quercetin may help to reduce inflammation and may be particularly helpful for people with a fatty liver as well as obesity and/or diabetes.

This review also points out how both epidemiological and animal studies have shown that drinking coffee (opt for organic to eliminate pesticide residues!) on a regular basis can decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes development, which is a known cause/risk factor for fatty liver disease.

4. Detox Your Liver

Check with your doctor first, especially if you have diabetes or struggle with blood sugar issues, but you may want to consider a 6-Step Liver Cleanse including remove toxic foods from your diet; drink raw vegetable juice; load up on potassium-rich foods; coffee enemas; take milk thistle, dandelion, and turmeric supplements and eat real liver or take liver tablets./.

( Annie Price )