Fatty liver is a dangerous diagnosis of our time. What causes fatty liver and how to deal with it

Extra pounds can be easily recognized by a blurred figure and an increased number on the scale. This allows you to respond to the problem in a timely manner and eliminate it. But sometimes fatty tissue attacks a specific organ, which does not always result in excess body weight. In particular, fatty liver disease can be diagnosed even in thin people.

A dangerous disease does not appear immediately, so not everyone associates the deterioration in well-being with it. Precious time is running out, and neglected pathology leads to irreversible consequences. That's why it's so important to understand what it is and whether it can be cured.

Essence

The disease has several different names: obesity, fatty degeneration, hepatosis, adiposis. Under the influence of various factors, liver tissues begin to gradually be replaced by fatty tissues. In the absence of proper treatment, lipid cells occupy an increasingly larger area of ​​the organ. At first, this manifests itself as a minor malfunction in the body’s “chemical factory.” But each time, disturbances in the functioning of the liver become more and more pronounced.

Fatty hepatosis affects children, men and women equally. The reasons can be very different. And if the main provoking factor is not stopped, it is unlikely that it will be possible to get rid of this pathology forever. Usually it is protracted and chronic.

The sooner you seek medical help, the faster your recovery will come. If left untreated, the risk of death increases as the liver, being a vital organ, eventually ceases to function.

Reasons

To begin to fight fatty liver, you need to find out its causes. The most common doctors call:

• hypovitaminosis;
• hunger strike and sudden weight loss;
• deficiency of protein and vitamins, excess iron;
• alcohol abuse;
• smoking in large quantities;
• sedentary lifestyle;
• metabolic disorders;
• general obesity;
• poisoning by toxins through certain medications, poisonous mushrooms, spoiled foods, pesticides;
• diseases such as diabetes mellitus, Reye's syndrome, Weber-Christian and Konovalov-Wilson diseases;
• passion for fatty foods;
• chronic intoxication;
• enteritis and pancreatitis in severe form.

Scientists are still studying the nature of this disease, so the list of possible causes will most likely continue to grow.

Symptoms

The sooner the symptoms of a disease are recognized, the faster it can be cured. At different stages of hepatic obesity, the signs of pathology will manifest themselves differently.

• Initial stage

Small fatty patches are observed in individual liver cells. Symptoms do not manifest themselves at all. The disease can only be detected by analyzing liver transaminases.

• First degree

Larger fat deposits accumulate in certain areas of the organ. The disease continues to occur latently, although mild nausea is increasingly observed in the morning, and during physical exertion a strong tingling sensation is felt in the right side.

• Second degree

Adipose tissue affects almost all liver cells. Symptoms worsen, the clinical picture becomes more noticeable. There is a feeling of heaviness in the right side, discomfort in the abdomen, and an enlargement of the organ is palpable. Changes in its density are noticeable on ultrasound.

• Third degree

Diffuse obesity is accompanied by the formation of numerous cysts with fat inside. This stage brings a lot of suffering. Nausea begins, dull, aching pain is felt in the stomach and under the ribs. The stomach is bursting, tormented by constant flatulence, rumbling, constipation (or vice versa, diarrhea). Patients complain of digestive problems.

However, the final diagnosis is not made by collecting information about the clinical picture. Doctors refer the patient for tests (biochemical, hormonal) and laboratory tests (ultrasound). And based on the data obtained, they draw conclusions and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Did you know that... Are there no pain receptors in the liver? Because of this, even in the stage of decomposition, this organ never hurts. Therefore, his obesity is so difficult to recognize in the initial stages.

Nutrition

Usually, for fatty liver, enough is prescribed, since it is poor nutrition that most often becomes the cause of the disease. Therefore, when confirming the diagnosis, the first thing the doctor does is describe in detail what you can eat and what foods you need to exclude in order to stop the growth of adipose tissue.

What you can eat:

• squash caviar;
• marmalade, caramel, jam;
• lean beef, veal, chicken, rabbit;
• low-fat fish: cod, blue whiting, pike perch, navaga, pollock, pike, carp, hake, seafood salads;
• low-fat dairy products: acidophilus, yogurt, milk, low-fat cottage cheese;
• non-acidic;
• non-acidic fruits and berries;
• vegetables;
• dried bread, crackers, dry biscuits, uneatable pastries, low-fat cookies;
• vegetable, ;
• sour cream, vegetable and milk sauces;
• sour cream;
• still table water, vegetable juices, weak tea, rosehip infusion, bran decoction;
• soups in vegetable broths with the addition of vermicelli, cereals, vegetables, borscht and cabbage soup, milk soups;
• and parsley;
• soft-boiled or poached eggs.

What not to eat:

• alcohol;
• legumes;
• broths;
• full fat milk and cream;
• fatty meat and fish, caviar, smoked meats, sausages, canned food;
• cooking fats, lard;
• okroshka, sauerkraut cabbage soup;
• fresh bread, fried pies, pastries, cakes, baked goods, puff pastry;
• offal: liver, kidneys, brains;
• horseradish, mustard, ketchup, pepper, mayonnaise;
• black coffee, cocoa, chocolate;
• sorrel, spinach, radish, radish, garlic, onion;
• fried and hard-boiled eggs.

Sample menu for a week of dietary table No. 5

1. The diet should consist of alternating protein and cereal dishes.
2. The approximate menu for the week of dietary table No. 5 can be modified according to your preferences, but without going beyond the permitted products.
3. Daily calorie intake is 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 kcal for men.
4. Fried foods are excluded from the diet.
5. It is better to replace sugar with xylitol.

Like this. Fatty liver, even in thin people, will soon lead to weight gain. This is due to the fact that the organ, due to illness, loses communication with the brain through hormones, and the body can no longer control the feeling of hunger. And the liver can no longer produce bile in the same volume, which is involved in the breakdown of fats. As a result, they begin to accumulate in different parts of the body.

Treatment

If you are determined to cure fatty liver disease, you need to carefully listen to all the doctor’s advice and follow his recommendations. Taking medications on your own and testing folk remedies on yourself is strictly prohibited. Such an initiative could have serious health consequences.

Medications

After confirming the diagnosis and establishing the extent of the disease, the doctor will tell you in detail what to take and what medicine is best for you to take at this stage. Here are the drugs usually used for fatty liver:

• hepatoprotective: Essentiale Forte, Essliver, Berlition - improve the functioning of the organ;
• sulfamic acid: taurine, methionine - tablets that help the body process fats;
• anticholesterol (lowering blood lipid levels): Atoris, Vasilip, Crestor, ;
• hepatoprotectors based on plant extracts: Liv-52, Karsil, extracts of artichoke, turmeric, sorrel, Cholagol, Gepabene;
• antioxidant vitamins: tocopherol, retinol;
• medicinal B vitamins: riboflavin, folic acid.

These drug names are given for informational purposes only and are not intended to be used to treat fatty liver disease on your own. Only a doctor can tell you about dosage regimens and dosages.

Folk remedies

Official medicine disputes that treatment with folk remedies for this disease is effective. However, with the permission of a doctor, they can be used as additional therapy. Decoctions and infusions of medicinal herbs are easy to prepare at home. Use for this:

• strawberry leaf;
• corn posts;
• birch leaves;
• juniper fruits;
• horsetail;
• chamomile;
• dill seeds;
• sandy immortelle inflorescences;
• calendula flowers;
• forest dried grass;
• rose hip.

So fatty liver can be cured only with an integrated approach, including diet therapy, medications, and folk remedies. At the same time, do not forget to lead a healthy lifestyle and actively engage in sports, getting rid of bad habits. First of all, the root cause must be eliminated.

Just a note. Fatty liver is one of the indications for liver transplantation. However, a transplant of this organ in Western European countries costs approximately $314,600. Although even this figure does not reduce the number of people wishing to benefit from it.

Complications

You need to know how dangerous liver obesity is in order to imagine its possible consequences without appropriate treatment. Against this background, the following pathologies develop:

• hepatitis;
• liver failure;
• cirrhosis;
• intoxication of the whole body;
• abdominal dropsy;
• diathesis;
• exhaustion of the body;
• coma.

But the worst thing is complete liver failure, when due to too much fat it stops functioning. In this case, the person dies within 3 hours without organ transplantation.

Scientific fact. The liver is the only human organ capable of self-healing (like a lizard's tail). However, adipose tissue, which gradually envelops and compresses the organ, prevents cells from dividing, reducing this property to nothing.

Prevention

The causes of fatty liver are difficult to find out due to their large number, the symptoms are subtle, the treatment is multicomponent and not always effective, the possible consequences are dangerous not only for health, but also for life. It becomes clear that the disease is much easier to prevent. To do this, it is necessary to follow preventive measures:

1. healthy lifestyle;
2. avoiding smoking and alcohol;
3. daily morning;
4. control and adjustment of blood glucose and cholesterol levels;
5. walks in the fresh air;
6. regular exercise;
7. balanced diet.

Fatty liver is a dangerous disease, which in the initial stages is too hidden to be suspected. That is why it is so important to engage in timely prevention. Prevention is much easier than cure. At the slightest hint of symptoms of pathology, seek medical help as soon as possible.

Fatty liver sounds fantastic, but in reality it is a very serious illness. Is it possible to identify the first signs of a disease and prevent it?

If this problem is not addressed in time, it can develop into a huge danger to the body, causing numerous complications and undermining the overall health.

General information about fatty liver

It's not hard to find excess fat on your body; at some point, buttoning your skinny jeans or putting on a tight T-shirt becomes a challenge.

But identifying fatty liver is much more difficult, especially since this pathology is also much more dangerous compared, for example, with increased hip size due to excessive consumption of buns.

Fatty liver, fortunately, is not a deadly pathology, but this does not reduce the harm to health.

If you do not get treatment in time and do not change your lifestyle to a more correct one, then there is a high risk of seriously compromising your health.

Fatty liver is a long-term process of transformation of normal healthy organ tissue into fatty tissue with some structural abnormalities.

With fatty liver, all causes relate to the body's protective reaction. A particular danger lies in the fact that the disease can affect not only the liver. General obesity of the liver and pancreas is common.

In most cases, the problem manifests itself when the human body is constantly exposed to toxins.

If we remember that the liver is the body’s natural filter, and it is through it that all harmful and dangerous substances pass, then a regular excess of toxins, if you eat poorly and abuse alcohol, can significantly disrupt the mechanisms of its work.

Toxins do not have time to be efficiently processed and eliminated from the body, which accelerates the process of transformation of liver tissue into fatty tissue.

If you don’t figure out how to treat fatty liver, the problem becomes chronic, and no pills can cope with advanced pathology.

If in the first stages the structural changes in the organ are still completely reversible, then without appropriate timely treatment it is almost impossible to get rid of obesity. Complications such as cirrhosis or fibrosis become possible.

Treatment of fatty liver is necessary even when the weight of the fatty part of the organ is more than 9%.

Delay can cost health or even life, since numerous complications described above destroy a weakened body.

Stages of disease development

With fatty liver, symptoms and treatment are closely related. It is worth knowing that there are two types of hepatosis - alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

Accordingly, alcoholic obesity is caused by the constant influence on the organ of toxins from alcoholic beverages and also products of the processing of ethyl alcohol.

You should be aware that the disease can be provoked by just one long celebration with copious libations.

In the case of the non-alcoholic nature of the problem, the cause may be a violation of metabolic processes in the body.

The risk increases if the patient already has diabetes, has recently been treated with powerful drugs, or has lost weight dramatically.

There is also a variation in fatty liver during pregnancy due to sudden changes in hormonal levels. This disease is very dangerous for both the expectant mother and the baby.

Numerous factors increase the risk of acquiring fatty liver disease, including:

• poor heredity in the form of a lack of enzymes required by the body to break down alcohol;
• hepatitis C infection;
• excess body weight;
• increased concentration of iron in the body;
• poor nutrition.

To cure a disease, you need to know how badly the pathology has affected the body.

It is for this purpose that a special gradation of the stages of fatty liver has been created, describing the degree of damage to the organ:

1. At an early stage, small fat accumulations appear, which can only be identified at the cellular level;
2. At the first stage, fat accumulation can already be seen in certain areas of the organ;
3. The second stage is characterized by damage to most of the cells of the liver tissue, but with varying intensity of fatty formations;
4. The last, third stage involves extensive damage to the organ, extracellular fat accumulations and the possible formation of a cyst.

The main danger posed by fatty liver is the absence of visible symptoms during the active development of the disease.

Accordingly, it is almost impossible to identify a dangerous sign and make a correct diagnosis in the early stages.

Because of this, you have to get rid of a serious disease that has affected one of the vital organs.

In the early stages, fatty liver can be detected using ultrasound and biochemistry by checking the levels of AST and ALT enzymes.

The list of symptoms of early liver damage includes loss of appetite, weakness, apathy and loss of coordination.

Manifestations of the disease in the second stage are already more obvious. Unpleasant pain appears in the right hypochondrium. Changes in skin color are also possible - jaundice, diathesis or darkening.

The traditional set of symptoms for the second stage necessarily includes stomach upset, indigestion, ascites and an increase in the size of the liver, which can be easily determined during an ultrasound.

At this stage, there may be problems with the blood supply to the tissues of the diseased organ, which can subsequently cause liver necrosis.

What threatens the third stage of fatty liver? To let the disease reach this stage means to doom the internal organs to dystrophy, and the body to problems with metabolic processes.

Lack of treatment at this stage becomes dangerous, as it leads to liver failure.

This disease is characterized by exhaustion of the body, muscle cramps, and in the most advanced cases, coma.

Incorrect or insufficient treatment can cause the development of pathologies of the cardiovascular system and deterioration of immune defense.

Prolonged refusal of treatment provokes the appearance of hormonal imbalance, which in turn leads to numerous diseases of various body systems.

If palpation of the liver reveals pain and enlargement of the organ, treatment should be started immediately.

After a series of diagnostic procedures, the attending physician must confirm the diagnosis and prescribe a course of treatment and rehabilitation methods.

Diagnosis and treatment of fatty liver

The fact has already been mentioned above that the possibilities for diagnosing fatty liver disease as early as possible are limited due to the weakness of the manifestation of the main symptoms.

That is why the most important diagnostic procedure should be a traditional ultrasound examination - at least once every six months.

It is a detailed ultrasound of the organ that allows us to identify its external changes - an increase in size or the appearance of fat deposits.

The second mandatory diagnostic procedure is blood biochemistry. With its help, you can identify changes in the amount of enzymes necessary for normal liver function and detect developing inflammatory processes. A biopsy, CT and MRI will help confirm and clarify the diagnosis.

When treating fatty liver, a comprehensive approach is important. The classic treatment regimen should include medications, physical therapy, and modified nutrition for fatty liver disease.

A diet for fatty liver disease is one of the prerequisites for recovery, the effectiveness of which is also supported by changing your lifestyle to a healthier and more active one.

An effective remedy for fatty liver is the right medicine, a set menu for the week, regular walks and exercise, and a complete cessation of smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages.

What can you eat to combat fatty liver? First of all, you should increase the amount of protein and fat-soluble substances in your diet.

The list of such products includes cottage cheese and cereals, you can eat green vegetables and beans.

Another mandatory condition that the menu for fatty liver must meet is the minimization of products that contain fats of animal origin.

What can you eat? Everything except sweets, pasta, unhealthy sauces, fatty meats and fish, dairy products and high-fat cheeses, as well as buns and bread.

You should limit your consumption of carbonated drinks and fried foods. In some cases, the diet for fatty liver is so effective that the doctor may even cancel the prescribed medications.

For fatty liver, treatment with folk remedies is also possible, but only if the folk remedies used have been approved by the attending physician.

Herbal medicine for obesity includes the use of infusions and decoctions of rose hips and milk thistle.

They are quite simple to make, and the results they demonstrate sometimes exceed the therapeutic effect of pharmaceutical drugs.

You can treat fatty liver with folk remedies using extracts of turmeric or sorrel.

Most of these remedies go well with the medications prescribed by the doctor. This is the secret to successfully treating fatty liver – an integrated approach.

A varied impact on the problem under the constant supervision of an experienced doctor will allow you to get rid of obesity without negative consequences for the body.

The slimmer a person is, the stronger his confidence that such a concept as “obesity” will never affect him. The unpleasant consequences that excess body weight entails do not threaten if your weight is normal and your figure is beautiful. Why, then, during a routine examination is the diagnosis given: “fatty hepatosis”? It's all about the visceral, our internal organs. One of the main reasons for this condition is genetic predisposition.

Fatty hepatosis (FLD, “fatty” liver, steatosis) is a pathological process in the liver, leading to the accumulation of fat droplets in hepatocytes and contributing to the complete degeneration of its parenchymal tissue into adipose tissue. Cirrhosis is the result that fatty liver can lead to. How to treat this disease, what are its symptoms and diagnosis? The article provides detailed information that will help you find answers to all your questions on this topic.

Causes of fatty hepatosis

This disease is divided into two types depending on the causes of its occurrence: ALD (alcoholic) and NAFLD (non-alcoholic). It can also be primary and secondary. The table below presents the main reasons for the development of one or another type of liver disease.

Classification of fatty hepatosis

Classifier	Type	The main reasons for the development of pancreatitis
for the reason that gave rise to the development of the disease	BPO	- excessive alcohol consumption for a long time (there are cases of the disease developing in a short time)
	NAFB	Unbalanced diet (predominance of unhealthy fats); Drug abuse (antibiotics, hormones); Hormonal imbalances (for example, during pregnancy); Insulin resistance (as a consequence of obesity and hypertension);
according to the list of concomitant diseases and factors	primary hepatosis	Obesity and (or) diabetes mellitus; Lipid metabolism disorder
	secondary hepatosis	Taking drugs with a hepatotoxic effect; Heart failure; Oncology; Rapid weight loss; Chronic gastrointestinal diseases (colitis, pancreatitis); Major surgery
according to the nature of the disease	spicy	Poisoning with toxic substances (arsenic, fluoride, drug overdose, alcohol); Viral hepatitis;
	chronic	Lipid metabolism disorders; Deficiency of protein, some minerals and vitamins; Alcoholism;
According to the severity of the disease	steatosis	Steatosis is stage I of ALD and NAFLD, the causes of occurrence are listed above
	steatohepatitis	Steatosis passes into stage II - steatohepatitis if an inflammatory process is added to fatty infiltration
	fibrosis	If treatment and prevention measures were not taken at stages I and II of the disease, then the disease progresses and leads to stage III - fibrosis. Risk factors are: Old age; Diabetes mellitus; Fullness (obesity); The ratio of transminase activity ACaT\ALaT > 1
	cirrhosis/liver cancer (rare)	Fibrosis is an irreversible change in liver tissue with a chronic course, which ultimately leads to stage IV - cirrhosis.

Unfavorable factors that can serve as an impetus for the development and further progression of the disease are:

• physical inactivity;
• stress;
• genetic predisposition;
• diets (involving fasting);
• bad environment.

Many reasons and factors can cause the development of a disease such as fatty liver. How to treat GBD will largely depend on the type, stage, and severity of fatty hepatosis.

Clinical manifestations of gallbladder disease

It is extremely important to make a timely diagnosis and begin treatment as early as possible. Unfortunately, the disease is insidious - it is practically asymptomatic. There are only general signs that can also manifest themselves in many other ailments:

• fatigue;
• chronic fatigue (present even after sleep);
• weakness, lethargy, feeling of powerlessness.

There may be more obvious symptoms to watch out for:

• heaviness (discomfort) and/or pain in the right hypochondrium;
• belching, bloating, nausea, heartburn;
• abnormal stool (change in consistency, smell, color);
• decreased appetite (no pleasure from eating);
• yellowness of the skin.

Due to a sedentary lifestyle, environmental conditions, and the processed foods that people are used to eating every day, a disease such as fatty liver has become a boom in the 21st century. Symptoms, treatment and prevention of fatty hepatosis is important information that a modern person should study in order not to become “every second” in the disappointing statistics on the incidence of this disease throughout the world.

Diagnosis of liver diseases

It is easier to prevent fatty liver than to treat it, so if one or more symptoms appear, you should consult a specialist. Usually this is a general practitioner, gastroenterologist, or hepatologist. During the examination, you should tell the doctor what exactly is bothering you and what symptoms are present. The doctor will examine the skin and also determine by palpation whether there is an enlarged liver. Diagnosis of the disease takes place in several stages. It will be necessary to pass the standard OAM, cal. The most informative methods are presented in the tables below.

Laboratory research methods for gallstone disease

Biochemical blood test indicators	Norm
Serum total protein	65-85 g/l
Total bilirubin	below 3.3-17.2 µmol/l
Direct bilirubin	0-3.41 µmol/l
Bilirubin indirect	3.41-13.6 µmol/l
Glucose	4.45-6.37 mmol/l (adults)
Bile acids	2.4-6.8 mmol/l
Fatty acids	0.31-0.9 mmol/l (adults); more than 1.2 mmol/l (children and adults with varying degrees of obesity)
Blood lipids	HDL (high density lipids): 1.51-3.4 g/l (adults) LDL (low density lipids):
Aminotransferases (transaminases)	0.13-0.87 MCat/l, 28-190 nmol/(s x l), 0.1-0.67 µmol/(ml x h), 0.17-0.77 MCat/l, 28-125 nmol/(s x l), 0.1-0.46 µmol/(ml x h),
Alkaline phosphatase	278-830 nmol/(s x l)
Cholesterol	less than 5.0-5.2 mmol/l

There are also instrumental methods for studying the retroperitoneal space (spleen, liver, gallbladder, kidneys, pancreas): ultrasound, CT, MRI.

Normally, the liver and spleen are not enlarged. The thickness of the right lobe of the liver is 112-126 mm, the left - about 70 mm (adults). In children, the size of the liver depends on age; if at 1 year of age a thickness of 60 mm is the norm for the right lobe of the liver, for the left - 33 mm, then by 18 years the indicators are close to age norms. The contours are clear and even, the structure is homogeneous, echogenicity should not be increased or decreased. Normally, the size of the common bile duct is 6-8 mm, the portal vein is up to 13 mm, and the diameter of the vena cava is up to 15 mm.

Of all the possible methods, liver tissue biopsy is the most effective way to make a correct diagnosis.

Treatment and prognosis for patients with gallstone disease

Although grades I - II are a long and labor-intensive process, the prognosis for such patients is favorable. At the stage of fibrosis, everything depends on its degree and on how the body reacts to drug treatment, whether there is any positive dynamics. In the terminal stage of cirrhosis, liver transplantation is necessary. This type of operation is the most expensive in the world. The prognosis for such people depends on material factors and characteristics of the body (post-rehabilitation period).

What is included in the treatment of fatty hepatosis? Fatty liver requires a number of comprehensive measures: from changing diet and lifestyle to the use of drug therapy.

If you have problems with your liver, it is advisable to adhere to the following rules for the rest of your life, which should also be followed to prevent fatty hepatosis:

• diet (usually table No. 5);
• playing sports (moderate physical activity);
• maintaining weight within normal limits; in case of obesity, it is necessary to find the cause of metabolic disorders and establish metabolic processes;
• adhere to the correct work and rest regime;
• take medications prescribed by your doctor to maintain and restore liver cells (hepatoprotectors, B vitamins).

If ALD is in acute form, it is enough to stop drinking alcohol - with maintenance therapy, the liver is capable of rapid recovery. With NAFLD, treatment of the underlying disease or elimination of unfavorable factors is required (depending on what was the root cause).

Non-traditional methods of treating “fatty” liver

If you don’t want to resort to medications, how to treat fatty liver? Folk remedies will help get rid of the disease. It is worth remembering that alternative medicine also has its contraindications, so you should always consult a doctor.

There are many herbal medicine recipes for treating fatty liver, here are some of the most effective:

• You should take 2 parts of the following ingredients: birch buds, nettle leaves, lungwort herbs, sweet clover. 3 parts each of raspberry leaves and licorice root. 1 part each of dill fruit and skullcap root. The resulting collection must be crushed. After this, add 2 tbsp. l. into a thermos and pour 1/2 liter of boiling water, leave until morning. Take 0.5 cups up to 4 times a day for several months. Afterwards, take a break for 2 weeks, brew a fresh mixture and repeat the treatment.
• 2 tbsp. l. crushed mint leaves pour 150 grams of boiling water. Leave the decoction until the morning, then divide it into 3 equal parts and drink it overnight; in the evening, pour 50 g of dried rose hips into a thermos and pour 1/2 liter of boiling water. Let the broth brew until the morning. Drink 200 g of decoction 3 times a day. You can brew corn silks in the same way. Such recipes are well suited for strengthening liver hepatocytes.

In order for the treatment to be effective, it is advisable to cleanse the entire body of toxins and waste before it begins. In folk medicine, there are many recipes for “gentle” liver cleansing.

Prevention of fatty hepatosis

If you force yourself to take some preventive measures, you can hardly achieve a positive result. This should not be “through force”, “sometimes”, but become a way of life. Only then will prevention and treatment be a pleasure.

Behind us is not the most pleasant, but necessary topic: “Fatty liver: treatment, symptoms.” Diet is what needs to be given the most attention in the prevention of GPD.

It is necessary to reduce the intake of animal fats by increasing the consumption of plant fats. Avoid easily digestible carbohydrates, such as sugar. Eat foods rich in fiber - they promote quick satiety and are lower in calories. You shouldn't give up meat completely; it's important to avoid eating unhealthy fats. To do this, you should eat low-fat, dietary meat products. You should eat food 5-6 times a day, chewing thoroughly. By following simple rules, you can avoid a diagnosis such as fatty liver. How to treat fatty hepatosis, what preventive measures to use? These questions will never arise if you lead the right lifestyle.

The liver is the largest digestive gland in the body. It performs functions on which human life and health depend. It processes toxins and promotes their elimination, accumulates useful substances necessary to replenish vital energy - and this is not all that this miracle organ does to support vital functions.

The liver is unique in its ability to regenerate. Restoring the previous volume is possible even if 3/4 of the liver tissue is destroyed. Such a strong liver, which does not declare itself until the last moment, still needs our careful attitude towards it. A healthy lifestyle (sports, proper nutrition, work and rest schedule) and a medical examination (at least once a year) is the key to longevity, a way to avoid many diseases and their negative consequences.

Liver hepatosis or fatty liver. What causes can cause fatty liver, methods for diagnosing the disease, drug treatment and dietary nutrition for fatty liver, this is what will be discussed in this article.

Unfortunately, recently, the diagnosis of fatty liver has been encountered quite often. Due to various factors, nutritional disorders, environmental factors in places of residence, genetic transmission and even medications, you can develop hepatosis.

General concepts of fatty liver

Fatty liver is a rather complex disease that cannot be cured in one day, since hepatosis does not manifest itself immediately; over the course of many years, fatty deposits accumulate in the liver cells. This is where the name comes from - fatty liver.

The consequences of hepatosis equally affect the male and female half of humanity, including children. The consequences of fatty liver are unpredictable, so it is very important to identify this disease in the early stages of development to avoid dangerous consequences. Medical statistics are not reassuring, since a larger percentage of diagnoses of this disease occur in the later stages of the disease.

Often, deposits on the hips, minor deposits on the abdomen, side areas just below the waist are observed visually, and thus many begin to lead a healthy lifestyle with exercise, limiting themselves to food products that deposit fat in all these piquant areas and the effect of the fat layer with this lifestyle, of course he leaves.

But we cannot see what is happening inside our body and what state our organs are in, which means we remain in the dark for a long time and often miss the moment of early diagnosis of a possible hepatosis disease. Hepatosis, steatohepatosis, fatty liver, fatty degeneration are all synonyms, which are the pathology of the degeneration of normal liver cells into fat cells.

The damage to internal organs by fat is a very unpleasant and quite dangerous moment, since by covering the organs with a layer of fat, introducing itself into its structure, fat slows down the functionality of the organ and over time can completely disable it. Of course, we do not want to scare you by the fact that this disease is not curable, it is treatable, but fatty liver leaves its negative mark with a complex, lengthy treatment process and a rehabilitation period of recovery to bring the organ to the good functional state it was before the onset of the disease.

Diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis can become complications and accompanying joint negative effects on the liver. Liver cirrhosis is a very dangerous disease in which liver cells are destroyed, liver tissue from normal tissue degenerates into fatty tissue with scar-like nodes.

Causes of fatty liver

• The first and most common cause is Alcohol (70% of cases with abuse of any ethanol-containing drinks);
• Overeating;
• Fasting with rapid weight loss;
• Long-term intravenous nutrition (parenteral);
• Physical inactivity (reduced physical activity);
• Exposure to toxins;
• Petrol;
• Pesticides;
• Poisonous mushrooms;
• Certain medications;
• Tetracycline;
• Methotrexate;
• Estrogen-containing drugs;
• Diabetes mellitus;
• Weber-Christian disease;
• Konovalov's disease;
• Reye's syndrome.

What are the symptoms of fatty liver?

As we said earlier, unfortunately, fatty liver cannot be quickly recognized, since the process of fat accumulation is quite long, but there are symptoms, nonspecific symptoms that may indicate that the liver is in a state of hepatosis.

• Attacks of nausea;
• General weakness;
• Fatigue;
• A sharp decrease in body weight.

These nonspecific symptoms are very often confused with other possible diseases, including colds, without giving them special attention. In fact, during this period there is an active process of fouling of the liver organ with fatty tissue.

Already with the appearance of a strange feeling of heaviness in the right hypochondrium and manifestations of dull pain in this area, questions begin and contact a doctor for advice. Dull pain and heaviness in the right hypochondrium already indicates that the process of fatty liver has gone deep. These symptoms appear as a result of the fact that the liver increases in size, stretches under the influence of the expansion of its own membrane and is manifested by a sensation of pain, since there are pain receptors in the liver tissue. Another symptom may be a sudden refusal of fatty foods due to heartburn, belching, nausea, vomiting (dyspeptic manifestations of the gastrointestinal tract). In addition to avoiding fatty foods, pigmentation of the skin in the armpits, groin areas, and neck is possible, which have brownish-colored spots of uncertain shape.

How is fatty liver diagnosed?

To confirm fatty liver, multi-level diagnostics is carried out by taking tests and using instrumental studies.

1. Blood test for the biochemical composition of indicators for transaminases, cholesterol, lipoproteins, red blood cells, ESR, platelets;
2. Ultrasound examination of the liver;
3. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging study);
4. Liver biopsy (sampling of the affected area of ​​liver tissue using a special needle (targeted biopsy), under CT control, followed by histological examination of the material).

Treatment of hepatosis with medications

The reasons, as we can see above, for the development of fatty liver can be different, and accordingly, treatment is based primarily on the cause that needs to be eliminated. If fatty liver occurs as a result of metabolic disorders in the body, metabolic adjustment begins with the help of medications. In case of alcoholic cause of the disease, alcohol is completely excluded and drug treatment is carried out, along with adherence to a strict diet. The banal and widespread overeating and eating a lot of fried and other foods harmful to the liver, first of all, eliminates these sources, which caused fatty liver.

Medications of the hepatoprotector group are necessary in the treatment of hepatosis, as they effectively normalize the functioning of the liver and biliary tract and improve metabolic processes.

• Livarol – inhibits the biosynthesis of ergosterol and changes in the lipid composition of the fungal membrane;
• – has a normalizing effect on the metabolism of lipids and proteins, with a pronounced detoxification function of the liver, restores the structure of the liver, liver cells, inhibits the formation of connective and adipose tissue in the liver;
• Lipostabil – reduces the content of lipids in the blood;
• Ursosan – choleretic, cholelitholytic, hypolipidemic, immunomodulatory effect;
• Silibor is a hepatoprotector with an inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation, prevents the destruction of liver cell membranes, neutralizes free radicals in the liver;
• – hepatoprotector on milk thistle fruits;
• Naturkarsevt – corrects lipid metabolism disorders, eliminates liver dystrophy, fatty infiltration;
• Heparsil is a hepatoprotector aimed at the interaction of free radicals in liver tissues, which transforms them into less toxic compounds and stops the process of fat peroxidation;
• Siromin is a hepatoprotector with the active substance silymarin;
• Silymarina SEDICO – granules for preparing a suspension with milk thistle fruit extract, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects;
• Legalol – hepatoprotective and antitoxic effect;
• Leprotek is a hepatoprotector with a stabilizing effect on hepatocyte membranes, restores damaged structures of hepatocytes, with a detoxifying effect on the liver;
• – capsules with extract of milk thistle and fumifera officinalis with choleretic, hepatoprotective and antispasmodic effects;
• The herbal preparation Hepatofalk-planta is a hepatoprotective and choleretic agent;
• Levasil is a hepatoprotector that stabilizes the permeability of hepatocyte membranes, regenerates liver cells, restores the normal ultrastructure of hepatocytes, increases protein synthesis, and inhibits the manifestations of fibrinogenesis;
• Artichoke (Cynarine extract in capsules) – hepaotoprotector with antioxidant and membrane-stabilizing properties;
• Chophytol - an extract from the juice of fresh artichoke leaves, with hepatoprotective and choleretic effects, increases the outflow of bile, increases the antitoxic function of the liver, increases the activity of liver cells;
• Liv – 52 – improves the contractile function of the gallbladder, prevents the formation of stones in the biliary tract;
• Catergen is a hepatoprotector with an antiradical effect, stabilizes cell membranes and subcellular structures of hepatocytes;
• Bonjigar – contains extracts of 10 medicinal plants with lipotropic and choleretic effects;
• Tykveol - normalizes dysfunction of the gallbladder, choleretic effect;
• Phospholip is a complex of phospholipids that normalizes protein and fat metabolism and has a lipotropic effect;
• Livolin Forte – enriches the membranes of cells and cellular organelles of hepatocytes with phosphatidylcholine, activates membrane enzymes, increases the synthetic function of the liver;
• Phosphatidylcholine – reduces inflammatory processes in the liver, necrosis of hepatocytes, reduces fatty infiltration of the liver;
• Eplir is a fraction of polar lipids and therapeutic mud. Has high antioxidant properties, promotes glutathione synthesis;
• – has a hepatoprotective effect, improves detoxification and secretory functions, enhances reparative processes;
• Thiotriazolin is a synthetic hepatoprotector with membrane stabilizing and antioxidant effects;
• Zixorin – has an inducing oxidative-enzymatic effect on the liver, enhances the secretion of bile, removes endogenous and exogenous metabolites from the body;
• Gepasol (solution with hepatoprotective and disinfectant effects);
• , containing mineral and natural plant components. , improves the condition of hepatocytes, anti-inflammatory effect on the liver and gall bladder;
• Hepel is a homeopathic medicine containing plant, mineral and animal substances. Anti-inflammatory, choleretic effect, increases nonspecific resistance of the whole organism;
• Chole-gran is a homeopathic preparation with a complex composition. Has excellent
  the ability to regenerate liver cells in case of fatty liver, hepatitis, Botkin's disease.

Fatty liver and food

The following foods must be included in your diet:

All prepared food must be either boiled, stewed, or steamed; baking of lean meat and poultry, as well as non-fatty fish, is allowed. The amount of water per day should be at least 2-2.5 liters. Avoid any carbonated drinks. Prepared food and drinks must be warm, at room temperature; cold food and drink should not be consumed. Completely eliminate alcohol, fatty, fried, sour, salty, sweet baked goods, cakes, canned foods, marinades, sauces, spices, onions, garlic, sorrel, any acid (except lemon juice, citric acid diluted in water). Reduce salt intake, but it’s better to completely abandon it, occasionally replacing it with a couple of drops of soy sauce in cooked dishes.

Fatty liver can be treated, but only if all doctor’s recommendations are followed with a combination of medications and diet.

Hello. What to do and what to do if your liver is overgrown with fat? Should I get treatment from a doctor or try to cope with the disease on my own? Today we will try to understand where it comes from, how it is diagnosed and treated. fatty liver. Treatment with folk remedies – How justified is this path in this case? Or should I immediately run to the doctor?

How to earn a dangerous diagnosis in a month

They say that if you sit on fast food and other fatty foods for a month, you can get a couple of steps closer to hepatitis, and from there it’s not far to cirrhosis, when changes in this organ become irreversible. Did I scare you? And here’s another “horror story” - the liver doesn’t hurt.

It will malfunction, grow fat, and you won’t even know about it. Therefore, only a doctor can make a diagnosis. And usually, this is discovered by chance. But the reasons that lead to a bad diagnosis are not at all random.

Organ-worker

What is the liver anyway? Why is it needed and what functions does it perform? Oh, this is a wonderful organ, our largest gland, which is responsible for fighting harmful substances. Like a barrier, it stands in the way of all kinds of toxins, poisons, and allergens entering our body.

In addition, it replenishes and stores a number of useful substances and vitamins, synthesizes enzymes and hormones that are involved in the digestive process, in particular, provides us with glucose - energy.

Time for sick leave

All this works if the gland is not damaged. But it’s not far from failure if:

• alcohol abuse
• excess of normal weight. Read more about nutritional obesity in the article
• love of fatty or sweet foods
• sedentary lifestyle
• constant diets and illiterate exit from them, with sudden overeating
• combination of taking medications, in particular antibiotics, and alcohol
• drug addiction
• diabetes mellitus
• atherosclerosis (deposition of cholesterol on the walls of blood vessels)
• hereditary predisposition to metabolic disorders

Metabolism is exactly what good liver function is based on. In all of these cases, metabolic disruptions occur, fats accumulate, the activity of the enzymes that break down these fats is suppressed, and as a result, a diagnosis of fatty hepatosis appears in the patient’s chart.

Warning signs

It does not appear on its own; it must first be diagnosed. But this is not easy to do, because, as I mentioned above, the liver does not hurt, it does not have nerve endings. Unpleasant sensations such as:

• stabbing pain in the right side,
• heaviness,
• sometimes nausea
• bad taste in the mouth,
• yellowness of the skin and proteins,

- all these are already the reasons for the malfunction of this gland, when its malfunctions began to make themselves felt by problems, for example, in the gallbladder, pancreas and other organs.
You can learn more about pancreatic obesity

But if you find something similar in yourself, you shouldn’t run to the pharmacy intending to buy something to “cleanse your liver.” Self-medication in this case is very risky. Only a therapist or gastroenterologist, using biochemical tests and ultrasound, can make an accurate diagnosis, and at the same time determine how seriously the organ cells are damaged.

Dangerous symptoms

I note that it is possible to treat hepatosis; it is a completely reversible, although sometimes lengthy, process. It all depends on the degree of fatty liver.

• initial and 1st degree– small and insignificant accumulation of fat droplets in individual cells or in small areas thereof.

Determined by blood tests, there are practically no symptoms.

• Stage II– the process has already affected almost all the cells of the gland.

Heaviness in the right side, discomfort mainly on the right side of the abdomen. When performing an ultrasound, changes in the density of the gland are visible.

• III degree– the entire organ is affected, fat fills it inside and envelops it outside, liver cysts form.

Constant nausea, aching or dull pain in the right hypochondrium, constipation, flatulence.

The consequences of all this can be very serious, including the development of liver cirrhosis and cancer.

How to overcome the disease

How to be and what to do - you ask in the spirit of the well-known hero of Shakespeare? And I will answer you in the spirit of the hero of Ryazanov’s “Irony of Fate” - “you need to drink less.”

Well, seriously, the sequence of actions is something like this.

1. Go to see a doctor and only with his help establish a diagnosis.
2. There, in the doctor's office, find out how to treat disease and strictly adhere to the recommendations.
3. Change your lifestyle. Not tomorrow, not from Monday, but right now. Change your diet, increase physical activity, add training. Well, follow the same advice from Zhenya Lukashin.

According to science

Traditional treatment usually includes

1. taking medications prescribed by a doctor,
2. following a diet aimed at reducing calories, normalizing metabolism and, as a result, gradual weight loss.

In this case, doctors prescribe therapeutic diets - table No. 5 and No. 8.

The total energy value of foods that should be eaten per day is 2400-2800 kcal, of which

proteins – up to 80 g.

fat – up to 80-90 gr.

carbohydrates – up to 400 gr.

Kick out of the refrigerator

During the diet you shouldabandon completely or minimize:

• alcohol;
• fried and canned foods;
• pasta, sweets, flour products, bread (except yesterday’s white, or fresh black, rye or bran);
• pork and lard;
• sugar;
• mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, hot sauces;
• spices;
• coffee;
• carbonated drinks;
• all sausages;
• smoked meats;
• spicy, salty foods;
• tomatoes (only in small quantities);
• unrefined vegetable oil;
• green tea, hibiscus;
• medications (antibiotics)
  

Patient support group

But what about the reception? worth increasing:

• raw, stewed, boiled vegetables - potatoes no more than 200g, as well as pumpkin, zucchini, cauliflower and Chinese cabbage, carrots, beets, cucumbers;
• fruits and berries;
• lean fish and seafood (pike perch, tuna, pollock, cod, hake, soaked herring, fresh oysters);
• greens (parsley, dill);
• water – 1.5-2 liters per day

Allowed:

• bran, crackers;
• seaweed;
• squash caviar;
• low-fat cheese;
• lean meat (in small portions) - boiled or steamed beef, veal, chicken, rabbit and dishes made from them;
• boiled eggs - no more than two per day
• cereals in the form of porridges and in soups (exclude lentils, limit legumes, pearl barley and barley)
• honey or xylitol (instead of sugar)
• low-fat dairy products;
• dried fruits (preferably in the form of compote);
• weak black tea

Sample menu

might look like this:

Breakfast:

Vegetable salad (carrot+apple), steamed buckwheat porridge, tea

Lunch:

soft-boiled egg, dried biscuit, milk

Dinner:

Vegetable and cereal soup, fruit (banana, pear)

Veal cutlets

Afternoon snack:

Low-fat cottage cheese with sour cream

Dinner:

Pilaf with chicken

For the night:

A glass of kefir

Let's go to the people

At home Trying to cope with the disease is not recommended. But it is quite possible to supplement medical prescriptions with treatment methods from traditional medicine.

Pumpkin

Rinse a medium-sized pumpkin well in water, cut off the top, and remove the middle pulp.

Pour honey inside - preferably light, mountain or May honey, cover with the top and place in a dark place for about 2 weeks. Then pour the resulting mixture into a jar and drink 1 tsp. 3 times a day.

Herbal collection

In equal parts, take dried wormwood, yarrow, fennel, cumin, mint, mix.

1 tbsp. mixture pour 1 tbsp. boiling water and place in a water bath for 15 minutes.

Cool, strain, squeeze out the raw materials, add to a glass.

Take half a glass 3 times a day before meals.

Mint infusion(eliminates pain in the liver area).

20 gr. Chop fresh mint leaves and pour in 0.5 liters of boiling water.

Leave it in a thermos for a day.

Then strain and drink throughout the day.

How to stay healthy

To summarize our conversation today we should talk about how to avoid liver problems. And here the advice is given traditionally, those on which a healthy lifestyle is based. The most effective are:

• Stop drinking (or do it very rarely)
• Normalize your diet, reduce the amount of fats and carbohydrates
• Add sports and other physical activity. In this case, you can read my article
• Control your body weight, do not allow it to exceed the norm.
  You can find out how to calculate your optimal weight by

What to remember:

1. Fatty liver creeps up unnoticed and often does not make itself felt for a long time
2. The reason for it is alcohol abuse, overeating and a sedentary lifestyle.
3. Diagnosis and treatment of the disease on your own is not acceptable
4. Traditional medicine can only be used in combination with treatment prescribed by a doctor.

Be healthy and see you again! And don't forget to subscribe to my blog updates.