There are couple of things you can do to prevent the development of a fatty liver.

First of all, do not drink excess amounts of alcohol. If you like alcohol, try to not exceed two drinks per day on a regular basis. Try to maintain a proper body weight in relation to your height and age. Eat a healthy diet – eating fat rich food and the popular carbonated drinks could contribute to develop fatty liver. Make sure to take periodic examination and blood tests at least once year. A routine blood test can reveal unnoticeable symptoms.

In case that you do develop fatty liver, please bear in mind that is it reversible most of the times. It’s just a matter to change your life style for your own good.

At the time being, there is no proven cure for fatty liver. The treatment is depends on fatty liver type. If it is an alcoholic fatty liver, then the best treatment would be to stop drinking alcohol. If it is a non-alcoholic fatty liver, then the best treatment would be weight loss with measured diet. It’s highly recommended to take an advice from an expert on weight loss. The user recommendation would be to eat less fat rich food, less eggs, carbonated drinks, just like a normal diet when you want to loss some weight. Also, take a look at Foods for fatty liver article talking exactly about that.

Additionally, it is highly advised to take part of physical activities, such as running, swimming, jogging, etc. It would increase your metabolism, replace some of your fat in your body with muscles, and eventually help you with the diet to treat fatty liver.

In spite this has not been proved yet, it is believed that antioxidants such as Vitamin C and Vitamin E have been suggested in some cases as being helpful. Some cases studies shown that resistance to insulin might aggravate a fatty liver, thus the use of insulin sensitizers such as Glucophage (also metformin) might become helpful to fight with the disease. Betaine (trimethylglycine) is a nutritional supplement that assists the liver to process fats, or lipids.

Most of the patients discover they suffer from a fatty liver following a routine blood tests performed for a different reason. Fatty liver is diagnosed in the blood test when there are  elevated levels of liver enzymes. Many people find out the existence of the disease after donating blood that followed a rejection, or just a routine checkup.

The most important blood tests regarding fatty liver are two liver enzymes: SGOT (also called AST) and SGPT (also called ALT). Elevated levels of AST and/or ALT may suggest fatty liver. In non-alcoholic fatty liver, all of other liver blood tests are usually in their normal level. A more detailed explanation about the liver function blood test results can be found in the Understanding liver function blood test results article.

Before diagnosing a fatty liver, some questions needed to be asked. If the patients consumes excess amount of alcohol, then the cause is usually obvious. But when these enzymes are elevated in blood of non-drinkers, potential causes can be: viral hepatitis, hemochromatosis (iron overload), gallstones, cancer, or fatty liver.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver is usually suspected in any adult who has unexplained elevated level of liver enzymes in the blood tests, and who doesn’t drinks no more than 2 alcoholic drinks daily. To conclude the cause, additional blood tests are required to rule out other causes of liver disease.

When other causes are ruled out, the patient is also required to take an ultra-sound examination, where fatty liver is usually noticeable.

There are no actual symptoms for a fatty liver. This is because fat development around the liver is a slow process, and usually takes year.

In the end, the livers size would increase, and might cause a obscure discomfort in the right upper stomach.

The main cause is a collection of high amounts of fat within the liver. There are two types of fatty liver, one that develops due to excessive consumption of alcoholics, and the other that develops in non-drinkers.

Alcoholic Fatty Liver
Chronic alcoholism can lead to a slow and progressive liver failure. The first phase of an alcoholic liver disease is a fatty liver (also called “alcoholic steatosis”). The damage is usually reversible if the patient becomes determined and abstinent; but with continued drinking, the result can be unfortunate. When this happens, liver cells gradually die and being replaced by scar tissue. Excessive amounts of scar tissue can lead to a liver failure and/ore cirrhosis.

Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
Until couple of year ago, it was believed that a non-alcoholics fatty liver was just a curiosity, because it was a result of of being overweight, or a diabetic. Recent studies have concluded that a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a different disease, which can lead to serious consequences. NAFLD includes several different levels:

• Simple Fatty Liver (steatosis)
  This is caused because of deposition of fat in the liver. It usually does not lead to liver inflammation or scar tissue, and the risk of progressive liver damage is relatively low. There are no identified symptoms for simple fatty liver.
• NASH (Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis)
  In the year 1980, scientists from Mayo Clinic noticed that some changes on liver biopsies in non-alcoholics people that looked quite similar to the liver damage as seen in chronic alcoholics who continue to drink. Besides the excess of fat, there were some signs of inflammation, and that the liver cells are dying (necrosis). They named this condition “Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis, or NASH. Steatohepatitis is the result of “steato” that means fat, and “hepatitis” that means liver inflammation.

NASH considered to be more severe than other forms of Non-Alcoholic fatty liver. This is because the simple fact that liver cells are dying. Patients who suffer from NASH are one stage closed to liver cirrhosis. In the United Status, NASH is now considered to be the 3rd most common cause of liver disease in adults (followed by hepatitis C and alcohol).This is most popular cause of liver disease among adolescents.

Recent studies have shown that fatty liver is a much more common disease than previously acknowledged.

In the US population, fatty liver undoubtedly become the most popular cause of elevated liver enzymes (taken in a blood test). It now affects around 25% of all adult Americans.

The typical patient is expected to be diabetic and overweight. This is although fatty liver might also develop in individuals of normal weight. In many cases, patients also suffer from elevated levels of triglyceride and cholesterol  in the blood, but consuming fatty foods is not a direct cause of fatty liver.

It is thought to be more common in women, but affects both sexes. Consuming excessive amounts of alcohol can increase the chances of developing a fatty liver. Until now, heredity was not found so play a significant role in the disease, so it is not passed from parent to child.

All of our organs contain some level of fat. This is not exactly a bad thing, because fat cells are used for protection, and they are a great resource for storing extra energy.

After a meal, the intestines absorbs the fat, and the fat enters the blood steam, which transfers the fat straight to the liver. Usually, this fat is altered by the metabolic process in the liver, and eventually converted to energy. If the amount of carried fat exceeding normal bounds, it is stored in the liver and in other various tissues.

The normal liver contains approximately 5% fat. The other 95% of the liver is made up of liver cells named “hepatocytes”, which are responsible do to all the work of the liver. So what is a fatty liver? When the amount of fat is beyond 10%, some healthy liver cells are replaced by the fat cells, which ultimately results a “Fatty Liver”, or steatosis.

The human liver is located under your right rib cage, and normally weighs approximately 3 pounds. It is the body’s second largest organ after your skin. It is built up by a complex chemical factory which produces numerous important substances (bile, digestive enzymes, clotting factors, cholesterol, and proteins, and more).

The human liver is essential in the metabolism of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and the various vitamins and minerals. It helps to adjust the level of blood sugar and fats. It cleanses the blood, detoxifies drugs, and protects against potentially harmful chemicals such as alcohol.

Human Liver

The liver is the main repository for blood, vitamins and minerals, and glycogen (the stored form of sugar – the body’s major fuel). The human liver is a powerful and complicated machine and largely unappreciated – until something goes wrong.

When I give talks on health, the one question that comes up over and over again is “What should I eat?”. I can understand the curiosity and the assumption that a good nutrition researcher ought to practice what he preaches. And I do. That’s why liver detox recipes are very important.

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• Soups
• Dressings, Sauces, and Dips
• Breakfasts
• Salads
• Desserts
• Vegetarian Dishes
• Seafood Dishes
• Pasta Dishes
• Chicken Dishes

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