HOW IS FATTY LIVER DIAGNOSED?
working properly) and liver cancer suddenly sky-rocket. It’s precisely because this process can go largely unnoticed until it’s too late that experts stress it’s vital to make lifestyle changes long before that point.
“That five per cent who get NASH is expected to increase to seven per cent by 2030,” says Professor Jonathan Fallowfield, head of liver research at the University of Edinburgh. “By and large most people don’t know y have a fatty liver.
These are often people who are thin the outside and fat on the inside.
They tend to carry visceral fat that umulates around the abdomen and rarely e any symptoms other than fatigue.” rofessor Fallowfield says although NAFLD ot booze-related, there is a major overlap h liver disease that is caused by alcohol. In other words, people who have a poor diet and lifestyle are more likely to drink too much as well.
And while nobody dies from NAFLD itself, once it progresses to the more serious stage – NASH – around one in 12 patients die within seven years of their diagnosis.
He adds: “The best treatment for NAFLD is weight loss.
“You only have to lose about 10 per cent of your body weight to reverse it and possibly even reverse liver fibrosis too, boosting your quality of life.
“It’s a condition that is very reversible. However, we know that about 85 per cent of people are unable to lose
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WHEN doctors told DeborahWatson she had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, she was baffled.
“I’d never heard of it,” says Deborah, 39, from Sunderland.
“Yet I was told that if I did not completely change my lifestyle, I could be dead from liver failure within six months.
“And as soon as I mentioned it to people they assumed I had a drink problem. But apart from the occasional social tipple, I don’t consume much alcohol at all.”
Deborah, who is married to Alan, 46, had led an active lifestyle, enjoying walks and going to the gym, until her weight started to creep up in her mid-30s.
At 5ft 1½in, she reached her heaviest weight of 15st 7lb.
As her weight started to get her down, she stopped exercising and became depressed about her appearance.
“Alan and I got married in 2017 and on the honeymoon a stranger asked if I was pregnant,” says Deborah. “That really hit a nerve.” A few weeks later, Alan insisted on taking her to a walk-in NHS clinic when he noticed the whites of her eyes had gone yellow.
“Within an hour I was on a ward undergoing all sorts of tests,” says Deborah.
“Next day the consultant confirmed I had liver disease and if I didn’t do something drastic, I might not be alive for long. It hit me really hard.”
But it gave Deborah the incentive she needed. She started to eat more healthily and started walking, then running, on a regular basis.
In the last two years, she has run a half-marathon, numerous 10k events and has joined a local jogging group called the The Silky Striders, who meet every Wednesday in Silksworth, Sunderland.
“The effect was incredible – I lost 6st in a year,” says Deborah.
“I have regular liver tests that show it is back to normal and I no longer have NAFLD.
“I want everyone else to know they can do something about it if they get a diagnosis of fatty liver disease.
“It was scary and I genuinely don’t think I would be here if it wasn’t for
Alan, the love of my life, insisting
I get help.”
● Often by accident – through routine blood tests for something else
● Doctors will then quiz you on diet, lifestyle, alcohol intake and what medication you are already on
● An ultrasound check – or a test called a Fibroscan – is done to check the state of the liver
● Some patients also need a CT or MRI scan and possibly even a liver biopsy – where a tiny amount of liver tissue is removed for testing and maintain even 10 per cent weight loss. They find it too difficult to adhere to.This explains why drug firms are currently very excited about a possible future role for drugs in treating NAFLD – although there’s nothing available at the moment.” But experts agree the most immediate priority is to get the wider public to recognise that millions are at risk of hidden liver disease – even those who drink little or no alcohol. As Pamela Healy from the British Liver Trust says: “It’s vital that we alert people of all ages to the risk factors so they can make simple lifestyle changes which can really save lives.”