What if you're worried about the provinces after the Chuseok holiday due to the sudden fatness?
Sep 30, 2024
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The liver is the largest solid organ in our body, and it plays a wide variety of roles. It manages body energy, is involved in detoxification of toxic substances, bile production, immunity and sterilization, and also plays a role in hormone metabolism. The energy that remains unused in our body is stored in hepatocytes in the form of triglycerides. The abnormal buildup of more than 5% of triglycerides in the liver is called 'fat liver'.
Fatty liver can occur not only with excessive drinking, but also with obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and malnutrition. About 30% of adults in Korea suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver, and 19% of the non-alcoholic population has also been reported to have non-alcoholic fatty liver. Even if you are not overweight, you should be tested if you have diabetes and metabolic syndrome or if you have persistent abnormalities in liver enzyme levels.
Professor Kim Young-seok of the Department of Gastroenterology at Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital explained, "As cardiovascular metabolic risk is known as an important prognostic factor in fatty liver disease, recently 'non-alcoholic fatty liver disease' is called 'metabolic related fatty liver disease'."
Fatty liver is difficult to diagnose early because there are no special symptoms, and even if it is found through a medical examination, it is often left unattended. However, excessive accumulation of fat in the liver can develop into steatohepatitis, leading to liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer. According to the study, 21-26% of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis patients develop cirrhosis within 8 years, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the third leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States.
The key to fatty liver treatment is lifestyle correction. Drinking restrictions are the most important in alcoholic fatty liver disease as well as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and weight loss should be lost by more than 5%. In non-alcoholic fatty liver disease accompanied by overweight or obesity, more than 5% weight loss reduces the amount of fat accumulated in the liver, and more than 7% to 10% weight loss improves liver inflammation and fibrosis. In addition, moderate or higher intensity exercise for more than 30 minutes three times a week is essential.
Medication is also helpful. Typical therapeutic drugs include insulin resistance improvement agents, antioxidants, and lipid lowering agents, and administration of antioxidants represented by vitamin E is also helpful. Statins can be used to prevent cardiovascular disease in the case of dyslipidemia, and omega 3 can be used if hypertriglyceridemia is accompanied. Recently, the thyroid hormone receptor beta-screening agent (Resmetirom) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the first time as a treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
The liver is the first gateway through which nutrients ingested through food pass. Liquor that harms the liver, fatty foods, processed foods, contaminated foods that are not cooked properly, unproven health foods and folk remedies can be detrimental to all patients with liver disease. In particular, folk remedies that often consume concentrated ones should be avoided because they can put a burden on the liver or act as liver toxicity.
There is a lot of controversy about eating habits that are beneficial to the liver, such as low-carb and low-fat diets, but it is more important to reduce total energy intake than the composition ratio of nutrients. In particular, it is known that the recent trend of 'Mediterranean diet' reduces the amount of fat in the liver and improves insulin resistance.
There are often people who sweat for a long time in saunas to lose weight, which can worsen comorbidities and cause serious cardiovascular disease, so they should be restrained. Instead, you should lose weight through regular meals and exercise.
Professor Kim Young-seok told patients with fatty liver "The incidence of fatty liver is increasing a lot as Korea's diet has become westernized, but there is a tendency to regard it as a 'disease that all middle-aged people have'" Professor Kim Young-seok said. "Fat liver shows good progress if diagnosed and treated early, but otherwise it often progresses to severe liver disease, so it should be managed steadily without sitting on the sidelines."," he said.
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bellho@sportschosun.com
