What is Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease?

Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common cause of chronic liver disease. NAFLD refers to the accumulation of excessive fats in liver cells, a condition known as steatosis and it is not due to excess alcohol consumption.

The prevalence of NAFLD is up to 30% in developed countries and nearly 10% in developing nations, making NAFLD the most common liver condition in the world.

NAFLD is strongly associated a with a number of metabolic risk factors including increased abdominal fat, poor ability of the body to use the hormone insulin or a condition better known as insulin resistance, high blood pressure and high blood levels of triglycerides, a type of fat and most significantly, obesity.

Over time, some people in these conditions (obesity, metabolic syndrome) can develop inflammation (swelling) of the liver. In some people, this inflammation can cause injury to the liver cell resulting in scarring of the liver tissue. Over years as more and more scar tissue begins building up, the liver will begin to harden a condition known as cirrhosis. This is considered a severe stage of the disease and it will only progress further causing liver failure or it increases the risk of developing liver cancer (Hepatocellular Carcinoma).

How can non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affect you?

NAFLD causes central obesity (abdominal fat) or diabetes. NAFLD patients are at increased risk of liver-related as well as heart -related mortality, and NAFLD is rapidly becoming the leading indication for liver transplantation.

NAFLD is a silent disease as it hardly shows any symptoms at an early stage. However when you start to experience pain on the right upper side of the abdomen and yellowing of the skin and eyes due to increase level of liver enzymes in the blood, the disease unfortunately has progressed into a much severe stage.

Symptoms of NAFLD