Health threat grows from liver disease tied to excess weight

Almost a third of the world’s population—that’s about two billion—are now fat. And aside from being the culprit for the sharp increase in the worldwide prevalence of type 2 diabetes as well as cancers linked to weight like pancreatic cancer, being overweight and obese is now associated to another silent killer: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

“NAFLD happens when there’s a buildup of fat in liver cells that is not caused by alcohol. Some fat in your liver is normal. However, if there is an accumulation and if it makes up more than 5 to 10 percent of the organ’s weight, that person may now have fatty liver disease,” explained German professor and lecturer Karl-Josef Gundermann of the Pomeranian (Poland) Medical University’s Department of Pharmacology.

Gundermann was recently in the country to raise awareness about fatty liver disease, which is closely linked to being overweight and obese. “The disease is very silent, which means a person could have it for decades without knowing,” he added.

Gundermann added that this type of liver disease, once thought to afflict primarily adults, now appears to be rampant even in children.

This news is no longer surprising considering that the World Health Organization found that the number of overweight or obese infants and toddlers (aged zero to 5 years) has increased globally from 32 million in 1990 to 42 million in 2013. If current trends continue, the WHO estimated that the number of overweight or obese infants and toddlers globally will increase to 70 million by 2025.

Even toddlers

In the case of the Philippines, the most recent 2nd National Nutrition Summit report of the 8th National Nutrition Survey (done in 2013) found that the prevalence of being overweight and obese among toddlers up to 5 years old has gone up at an average of 0.17 percentage points per year for the past 24 years.

Among the school-age and adolescent groups, the same survey reported that the prevalence of being overweight increased at an average of 0.33 percentage points and 0.34 percentage points per year, respectively for the past 10 years.

No wonder the same survey found that three in every 10 adult Filipinos are now overweight and obese. The same study also found that from 1993 to 2013, there was an increased trend of high waist circumference and high waist-hip ratio for both males and females.

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“Why should we be worried? Without intervention, obese toddlers and young children will likely continue to be obese during adolescence and adulthood. This is why we should all raise the alarm over the possibility of NAFLD going prevalent among adults,” Gundermann warned.

Detection of NAFLD is important for better management and treatment. Fatty liver can be detected by a simple ultrasound scan as well as through routine checkups that include liver tests such as ALT, AST and GGT. Any abnormal readings should alert the doctor.

When the problem if left undetected, NAFLD will progress to another more serious form known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH. “Over time, NASH could lead to fibrosis (development of fibrous scar tissue around the liver’s cells and blood vessels), cirrhosis (permanent liver damage), and then liver failure, or liver cancer. These three are mostly fatal,” said the professor.

“Progression of NAFLD to cirrhosis and its deadly complications occur very slowly so one has to take steps as soon as possible. Aside from undergoing checkups that included the state of the liver, one interesting liver protector that has shown promise is essential phospholipids (EPL). It is one natural supplement (derived from soya beans) that has been clinically proven to normalize liver function and even has regenerative effects of replacing and reconstructing the damaged phospholipids in the liver’s cell membrane (phospholipids are the building blocks of the liver cell membrane),” he said.

EPL was discovered 76 years ago. And since then, dozens of symposiums and scientific meetings took place, and hundreds of publications appeared.

“EPL should be taken via supplementation because typical diet either does not contain enough EPLs or has the wrong type of EPLs,” reminded the professor (in fact, to get the same required daily dose of EPLs, one would need to consume in excess of 1,000 chicken eggs, or over 13 liters of milk per day).

Gundermann added: “There’s no need for that since EPLs are now encapsulated and thus, more convenient to take every day. Furthermore, aside from taking a regular dose of EPL, NAFLD could also be halted or even reversed through simple lifestyle changes like losing weight gradually, lowering triglyceride levels through diet, medication or both, avoiding alcohol, and controlling diabetes, if one has it.”