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Home » How to lose weight safely » Potentially deadly liver disease caused by belly fat – here’s how to zap it – Mirror Online

Thought it was only alcoholics who need to worry about liver disease? Think again.

Your evening tipple isnt the only culprit when it comes to causing liver damage and anyone with excess weight on their belly is in the firing line.

Its estimated that, thanks to rising obesity levels, a third of the UK population now has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the medical term for too much fat building up in your liver.

And while most sufferers are oblivious to the fact that they have the condition, left unchecked, its a killer.

Alyson Johnson, a digital project manager from Newcastle upon Tyne, was just 50 when her doctor told her she would be dead within two years if she didnt lose weight.

My GP told me bluntly that I was putting my life at risk because my weight had led me to develop a fatty liver, which had become inflamed and scarred, admits Alyson, who weighed 17st 7lb and had uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes at the time.

It was the wake-up call I needed.

Her case is by no means unusual.

Dr Stephen Ryder, consultant physician at the Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham and medical adviser to the British Liver Trust, said: Almost two-thirds of people in the UK are overweight or obese and, as that is the main cause of NAFLD, the condition is becoming very common indeed.

Latest figures from the UK Biobank suggest that as many as 12 million people in the UK may have fatty liver disease and 1.4 million could have the more serious type non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) which is stage 2, where the liver becomes inflamed.

Around 360,000 of these cases will develop cirrhosis.

And worryingly, those developing the disease are getting younger all the time.

While NAFLD was once most prevalent in people aged over 50, in April a study from the University of Bristol revealed that one in five young adults in the UK have early signs, with one in 40 having already developed fibrosis a precursor to cirrhosis of the liver by just 25.

Pamela Healy, chief executive of the British Liver Trust charity, said were facing a liver disease epidemic.

Its really alarming that one in five of the people we see at the mobile Love Your Liver screening sessions have a high liver scan reading and need further investigation, she said.

This is a wake-up call to the liver disease epidemic the UK is facing. It needs to be addressed urgently before its too late and costs unnecessary lives.

1 Dont let your weight creep up

Around 95% of people with NAFLD are overweight or obese. Overweight people have high levels of circulating fat, which can be stored not only in the skin, but also in the organs, including the liver. Fat causes inflammation and this stimulates scarring of the liver, so if you lose weight the scarring goes and the normal capacity of the liver to regenerate itself comes back. If youre overweight, losing 10% of your body weight has been shown to be enough to reverse liver scarring.

2 Take a coffee break

Drinking two or more cups of coffee a day has been found to protect against liver cancer and cirrhosis in research conducted by the University of Edinburgh if it is drunk as part of a healthy well-balanced diet. This doesnt give us a pass to drink more alcohol, however: while scientific research suggests coffee may have a beneficial effect on liver function, the risks associated with excessive alcohol consumption are not counter-balanced by drinking coffee.

3 Watch out for fructose

Excessive consumption of fructose (fruit sugar) found in fizzy drinks and fruit juices has been associated with an increased risk of developing NAFLD. One paper, published in 2015 by researchers from Bezmialem Vakif University in Istanbul, Turkey, said fructose was more likely to contribute to NAFLD than a high-fat diet. The researchers said fructose was a major stimulant for a process called de novo lipogenesis, which converts excess carbohydrates into fatty acids.

4 Minimise your diabetes risk

An estimated 70% of people with Type 2 diabetes have NAFLD. In this type, glucose metabolism and fat metabolism are affected, with excess fat stored in the liver. If you do have Type 2 diabetes, losing weight may put your diabetes into remission and also reverse your fatty liver disease.

5 Keep fit

Exercise improves insulin resistance, a risk factor for NAFLD. Research by the University of Newcastle has found that exercise alone without weight loss can reverse NASH. In the later stage disease, both exercise and weight loss are needed for damage to be reversed.

6 Make sure you eat a Med-style diet

Research published in the Journal of Hepatology found that obese people who ate a diet rich in olive oil, pulses, walnuts, vegetables and little red meat had a significantly greater reduction in liver fats.

7 Stick to safe limits of alcohol

Alcohol doesnt cause NAFLD,but it can cause other forms of liver disease that can result in fibrosis and cirrhosis, so drink no more than 14 units a week.

As for Alyson, in the two years since her doctors blunt diagnosis, she has turned her health around.

At the time, my health was a mess, she admits. I was lazy and ate portions that were too large. I also comfort ate: half tubs of ice cream and chocolate if I was feeling low. I was killing myself with food and not moving enough.

Alyson set about improving her lifestyle.

I knew I had to make big changes so I hired a personal trainer and worked out with them three times a week. At the same time, I cut my calories to 1,700 a day.

I approached it like simple maths: I had to cut what I was consuming and create a 300-a-day calorie deficit.

Thankfully Alysons hard work has paid off. In just under two years my weight has dropped by six stone and Im down from size 22 to a size 12, she said.

My latest scans show I have a normal liver and have reversed the scarring and my Type 2 diabetes is in remission.

I now exercise a lot and enjoy hiking and weight training. People ask me how Ive stuck to it, but the answer is easy: I didnt want to die young.

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Potentially deadly liver disease caused by belly fat - here's how to zap it - Mirror Online

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Home » How to lose weight safely » Potentially deadly liver disease caused by belly fat – here’s how to zap it – Mirror Online