The Liver Failure Cause Most People Don’t Know About- and It’s More Common than You Think

The Liver Failure Cause Most People Don’t Know About- and It’s More Common than You Think

Your liver is one of the hardest working parts of your body.   It cleans your body of toxins and it produces many of the proteins your body needs to keep running. So anything that could damage it would be a bad thing, right?

This is one of the main reasons that people must moderate alcohol consumption, as well as the reason the FDA limits the amount of liver toxic drugs that one can take in a day, such as acetaminophen.

But did you know that one of the biggest causes of liver damage is actually the amount of fat we carry around our middles?

Most of us think of fat as useless tissue that stores our excess calories and makes our clothes fit poorly.   But it can do more than that. It can cause our bodies to have a difficult time metabolizing sugar, can create chemicals that increase the risk of certain cancers, and, it turns out, can slowly destroy our livers.

The medical name for the disease is Non-Alcoholic Steatotic Hepatitis (NASH), which is a fancy way of saying liver inflammation caused by fat and not alcohol. Fat in our abdomens can actually infiltrate the liver, and that can, over time, cause liver inflammation and eventually over many years, liver failure and death.

10-20% of Americans have fat around their livers, and 2-5% of Americans have NASH. Blood tests can check for liver inflammation, and if found, an ultrasound can document the presence of fat around the liver. Weight loss and exercise can then reduce the amount of fat around the liver and help prevent the development of NASH.

As the rates of obesity in our country have risen, the rates of NASH and liver failure due to NASH have risen as well, becoming the third leading cause of liver failure, after hepatitis C infection and alcohol abuse.

Here are some simple steps to help protect your liver from NASH and it’s effects:

-Get regular exercise, 30-40 minutes a day, at least 4-5 times a week

-Abstain from alcohol use, or drink seldom and only in moderation

-Watch your intake of supplements and pain relievers- follow dosing instructions and keep track of what you are taking and how often it can be taken. Supplements and acetaminophen are common causes of liver toxicity and inflammation if not used as directed. Let your doctor look at your supplement bottles and get his/her input as to whether these are safe to use on a regular basis

-Watch your intake of simple carbohydrates

-Maintain a healthy weight, or lose weight if you are overweight or obese