Fatty liver is common, particularly in people with diabetes and who are overweight. Although it might not cause any symptoms, it can lead to significant health problems. Making changes to your lifestyle is key to preventing and improving the condition.
Some people get fatty liver disease without having any pre-existing conditions. But these risk factors make you more likely to develop it: Having overweight/obesity. Having Type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance.
Liver Disease: What You Need to Know About this Common Problem of Diabetes. Developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, occurs in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes, and can be reversed with weight loss.
Early-stage NAFLD doesn't usually cause any harm, but it can lead to serious liver damage, including cirrhosis, if it gets worse. Having high levels of fat in your liver is also associated with an increased risk of problems such as diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.
When the liver does not process and break down fats as it normally should, too much fat will accumulate. People tend to develop fatty liver if they have certain other conditions, such as obesity, diabetes or high triglycerides. Alcohol abuse, rapid weight loss and malnutrition may also lead to fatty liver.
The good news is that fatty liver disease can be reversed—and even cured—if patients take action, including a 10% sustained loss in body weight.
Life Expectancy With Fatty Liver Diseases
People stay healthy despite suffering from the disease following a normal routine. The life expectancy with fatty liver disease decreases from 3 to 4 years because such patients develop other chronic diseases such as cardiovascular or diabetes.
Research indicates that NAFLD may contribute to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Because the liver plays such an important role in regulating the body's blood sugar, the buildup of fat in the vital organ makes it harder to control fasting glucose levels.
Too much refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup causes a fatty buildup that can lead to liver disease. Some studies show that sugar can be as damaging to the liver as alcohol, even if you're not overweight.
Having high levels of fat in your liver is also associated with an increased risk of serious health problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease. If you already have diabetes, NAFLD increases your chance of developing heart problems.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has widely been considered a manifestation of metabolic syndrome in close relation to obesity [1]. In fact, although obesity is undoubtedly one of the main risk factors for fatty liver, since its first description it is known that it can also occur in lean subjects.
Fatty liver disease, including NASH, can lead to liver cirrhosis if left untreated. In advanced cases of liver cirrhosis, life-threatening complications such as liver failure, liver cancer, and internal bleeding may occur.
Fat and toxins accumulate in the liver over time, causing the metabolism to slow down rather significantly. The liver becomes clogged and is unable to process sugars and fats as efficiently, causing fat to accumulate in other parts of the body and leading to overall weight gain. WHY IS FATTY LIVER DISEASE GOING UP?
Patients can live for many years with NAFLD, but many – about 30% – eventually end up with an inflamed liver or NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis), and scarring. Of these, about 20% will develop end-stage cirrhosis, which can lead to liver failure and cancer.
It takes upwards of ten years for alcohol-related liver disease to progress from fatty liver through fibrosis to cirrhosis to acute on chronic liver failure. This process is silent and symptom free and can easily be missed in primary care, usually presenting with advanced cirrhosis.
Non-alcohol related fatty liver disease isn't life-threatening by itself. You may live the rest of your natural life without having any complications from it. It becomes more complicated for a small percentage of people when it turns to steatohepatitis (NASH), and especially when NASH progresses to cirrhosis.
Core tip: Fatigue is prevalent, persistent and complex in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
The first stage is referred to as simple fatty liver or steatosis; This occurs when the liver cells start to build-up fat, although there is no inflammation or scarring at this stage. There are often no symptoms in this early stage, so many people are unaware they have a fatty liver.
Fatty liver disease is reversible. If you stop drinking alcohol for some time (months or years), your liver should return to normal.
However, NAFLD typically is diagnosed between the ages of 10–13 years. The actual onset of disease for most children is not known. At diagnosis 10–25% of children can have advanced fibrosis. In the most severe cases, children can progress within a few years to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease.