Many common beliefs about fatty liver are wrong. Writing in Prothom Alo, Dr Najma Akhter, associate professor of endocrinology and metabolism at Marks Medical College Hospital in Dhaka, explains eight of them.
The first myth is that people who do not drink alcohol cannot get fatty liver. The condition was long called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, she points out; it is linked to excess weight, high blood sugar and fats, and belly fat. The second is that a normal SGPT or liver function test rules it out. Up to 80 percent of people with fatty liver can have normal SGPT, because the enzyme rises only after considerable inflammation.
Third, superfoods, supplements and herbal teas do not reduce fatty liver, she says; none, including vitamin E supplements and green tea, has a benefit proven by scientific research. Fourth, lean people can have fatty liver too. It depends on insulin resistance, blood fats and the fat around internal organs (visceral fat), not on weight alone.
Fifth, it is not only a disease of older people: it is rising alarmingly among children and teenagers because of childhood weight gain, lack of exercise and poor diet. Sixth, fats and carbohydrates need not be cut out altogether; what matters is choosing them, replacing sugar, white flour and white rice with brown rice, wholemeal flour and oats, and trans and saturated fats with unsaturated ones.
Seventh, milk and eggs are not forbidden: people without lactose intolerance can drink milk while avoiding cream, butter and ghee, and eggs are allowed. The eighth concerns coffee. It causes no harm in fatty liver, she says, and research suggests two to three cups a day are good for the liver, as long as it is taken without sugar or cream.
This is general information; anyone diagnosed with fatty liver should decide on diet and treatment with their own doctor.
Source: Prothom Alo
Comments
(0)