In the past, the well-known function of the liver is the ability to detoxify, but in fact, although the main work of the liver is detoxification metabolism and biotransformation, it is not limited to this.
The liver is involved in many aspects such as blood clotting, digestion, and endocrine balance. Related studies have shown that the liver is the most central organ of lipid metabolism in the body, and the fat in the liver mainly comes from food and peripheral adipose tissue.
Because of this, some people have directly equated fatty liver and obesity, believing that fatty liver will only find obese people. So the question is, what kind of disease is fatty liver, and does it really only look for people who are overweight?
Under normal circumstances, there is indeed a small amount of fat in the liver, which includes triglycerides, cholesterol, etc., and its total weight is about 3 to 5% of the liver weight.
The so-called fatty liver is actually too much fat accumulation in liver cells caused by various factors, which is a pathological change of the liver, not an independent disease.
Secondly, it cannot be denied that obesity is indeed one of the independent risk factors for the emergence of fatty liver disease, and the severity of fat accumulation in the liver is directly proportional to the patient's own weight in clinical opinion.
In mainland China, nearly 1/2 of the obese people have combined fatty liver, and the probability of fatty liver can reach about 90% in people who seriously exceed the standard. After the patient's weight is effectively controlled, the degree of liver fat infiltration will also decrease or even disappear.
However, obesity is not the only cause of fatty liver disease, the following major factors can also lead to the emergence of fatty liver:
1. Long-term alcoholism
Fatty liver can be clinically divided into two categories, namely alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver. You know, alcohol originally needs to be metabolized and decomposed by the liver, and more than 90% of the alcohol that enters the body will be oxidized and metabolized in the liver, and acetaldehyde and acetic acid will be generated.
In the process of metabolism, it causes the environment within the liver cells to be in a reduced state, which in turn interferes with sugar, lipids, and intermediate metabolic remissions. There is a decrease in glycogens in the liver, an increase in the synthesis of fatty acids and triglycerides, and a large amount of fat accumulates in liver cells, which in turn develops into an alcoholic fatty liver.
Among all long-term alcoholics in mainland China, 70 to 95% of liver puncture biopsies have fat infiltrates. If the amount of alcohol consumed per day exceeds 80 to 160 grams, the probability of alcoholic fatty liver disease will increase by about 5 to 25 times;
2, improper weight loss
In order to see the effect of weight loss in the short term, many people choose improper weight loss methods, such as absolute fasting, excessive dieting, only eating vegetarian or coarse grains, and so on.
As everyone knows, this unhealthy means of weight loss can lead to the body's original stored fat being decomposed in a large amount in a short period of time, and the glutathione components in the liver are gradually consumed, prompting malondialdehyde and lipid peroxides to be continuously deposited in the liver.
Coupled with the liver's inability to synthesize apolipoproteins normally, the influence of triglyceride accumulation eventually develops into fatty liver, which is one of the main factors why weight loss also suffers from fatty liver;
3. Unhealthy diet
In addition to liver steatosis, long-term unhealthy diet is also a major risk factor. For example, patients are accustomed to eating foods with too much fat, excessive sugar and excessive calories for a long time, which may cause sugar and lipid metabolism disorders.
Relevant data surveys show that nearly 50% of diabetes caused by improper diet will have fatty liver.
Written at the end: Fatty liver is a reversible disease in the early and middle stages. Therefore, after being diagnosed with fatty liver, everyone should actively find the cause from themselves, and then improve it to avoid the fatty liver from going to the point of severe and cirrhosis.
In addition, if you don't want fatty liver to come to your door, it is necessary to actively control diet, weight loss, and abstain from alcohol from now on.