digest fats. This just the tip of the iceberg of what the liver does, but these functions are important to causes and effects of fatty liver disease.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is named such to indicate that this disease process is different from the damage that alcohol abuse and dependency causes in the liver, but the outcomes may be similar. In the US, it is estimated that there are 80-100 million people with NAFLD.
One of the key features of this disease is the accumulation of fat globules in the liver cells. Other features include obesity, high levels of triglycerides circulating in the blood, high blood pressure and the early stages of diabetes, referred to as insulin resistance (you can find articles on all these medical problems on the blackdoctor.org website).
Collectively, we call this condition Metabolic Syndrome. The problem is that the fat accumulation can trigger an immune response and inflammation in the liver which can progress to cirrhosis, liver failure and potentially, liver cancer.
So what causes NAFLD? It can be seen as one of the consequences of this metabolic syndrome where the body is in crisis over the intake and utilization of fuels (carbohydrates, fats) and other nutrients. Poor diet (intake) and insufficient physical activity (utilization) set off a cascade of events that could result in NAFLD and it’s more serious outcomes.
At the center of this process is the intestinal microbiome. Many studies have shown that our diets affect the microbiome. Recall that the intestinal bacteria are essential in