Fatty liver, also known as hepatic steatosis, is a condition in which excess fat builds up in the liver. When excess calories cannot be fully consumed, the body will store excess calories in the liver, thus causing fatty liver.
Types of fatty liver
There are two main types of fatty liver. The first one is alcoholic fatty liver that is caused by long-term alcohol use. As more and more people release the bad health impact from alcohol use, alcoholic fatty liver is having a declining trend.
Another is non-alcoholic fatty liver which is related to obesity and metabolic diseases like high blood sugar and lipids. There is a significant incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver in recent years. Considering one in three people is obese, it sounds reasonable that one in three people has non-alcoholic fatty liver.
Symptoms
You may wonder whether there is stomach pain or other obvious symptoms if one has liver problems. In fact, it is very like to find no obvious symptoms. The liver is often considered a silent organ because it does not have pain-sensitive nerves. Sometimes, even severe liver disease does not cause abdominal pain. In clinical practice, the majority of fatty liver cases are detected through ultrasound diagnosis. However, a few patients with fatty liver may feel uncomfortable in the liver area and feel pain in the right upper abdomen pain.
Risk factors
Obesity is a common risk factor for fatty liver. People who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop fatty liver. You need to check your Body Mass Index to see whether you are overweight or obese.
High blood pressure or high blood lipids are also indicators of fatty liver. If you have high blood pressure or blood lipids, you can take an ultrasound examination as a preliminary screening.
Elevated aminotransferases levels often indicate a fatty liver in the screening testing, and you can also choose transaminase screenings.
Fatty liver can be reversed through the intervention of scientific weight loss, reasonable diet, and exercise
Lifestyle interventions
Fatty liver is a lifestyle disease, so we shall develop a healthy lifestyle to prevent and treat fatty liver.
Keep a healthy diet. Soft drinks and beverages containing high calories shall be avoided.
Begin weight loss. Many patients hold a misunderstanding that they can lose weight by skipping meals. However, the fact is that skipping meals is not a good method to lose weight and it may lead to additional health problems. A recommended principle for weight loss is to control the total amount of diet, avoid foods containing high calories, fat, and sugars.
Do regular exercise. A combination of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise will be a good intervention for fatty liver.
It should be noted that weight loss cannot achieve success in a short time, and people with fatty liver are required to lose 3-4 kg per month.
Medication intervention
Medication intervention must be on the basis of improved lifestyles. Some drugs can be used to control fatty liver.
when the transaminase rises continuously, it can be treated with hepatoprotective drugs. Vitamin E can be used for patients with severe fatty liver.
Pioglitazone can be used for patients with diabetes. However, it only shows effective among 40% of people. Also, the course of pioglitazone treatment is long and takes more than two years, and even occur rebound effect.
To sum up, medication is not the most ideal treatment.
Fatty liver can be reversed as long as it hasn’t progressed into cirrhosis. Early detection and treatment can receive good therapeutic effects.
