What you eat can affect your liver

Written by  Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:00

Once upon a time, poor liver health and failure almost always occur as a result of alcohol abuse. But experts say that in few people, their unhealthy livers can be traced to poor eating habits, reports Sade Oguntola.

It is possible that you are damaging your liver on a daily basis, and you don’t even realise it— down too many alcoholic drinks at weekends, pop too many pain killers or two or three carbonated soft drink on a daily basis. But being healthy is also about eating right, choosing the right foods from all food groups such as grains, meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and fats in the amounts that the body needs.

Studies after studies have shown that good food choices have a positive impact on health, including maintaining functionality of organs in the body such as the liver. Unfortunately, the consequences of an improper diet, in combination with sedentary lifestyle, high stress and obesity are much more extensive than simply being fat.

Fat builds up in the liver cells when the liver fails to break down, transfer and store fat effectively, causing a type of liver disease that is medically termed “fatty liver disease”. Overtime, less and less healthy liver tissue remains. This disease can lead to more serious problems such as liver scarring (known as cirrhosis), cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases. This means normal, healthy liver tissue becomes partly replaced with fatty tissue.

The liver is the body’s most important organ after the heart, performing many important functions including metabolism, detoxification, and formation of important compounds including blood clotting factors.  It also filters, regulates, and stores blood.  But if the liver is full of fat, it cannot do these important jobs and this could be dangerous.

Indeed eating unhealthy food, especially junk food which contains a lot of fat, affects the liver. “The deposited fat in the liver can cause hepatitis on its own, but this is not due to viruses. Overtime, this progresses to form liver cirrhosis and also to liver cancer,” said Professor Abiodun Otegbayo, a consultant gastroenterologist, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State.

“But when you take healthy foods that contain a lot of fruits and vegetables, it gives the liver less work to do. It also prevents accumulation of fat.  Also, such healthy foods contain some chemical substances called antioxidants. These are substances that mop up injurious substances that are generated as a result of the activities of the liver and other cells in the body that cause damages to the liver and any other organ in the body.”

Professor Otegbayo, who stated that eating healthy foods can reduce the possibility of developing liver diseases since liver diseases can also be caused by excessive intake of alcohol and germs, cautioned on excessive eating because it predisposes to fatty liver disease, a precursor of liver cirrhosis and cancer.

Nonetheless, he said that what constitutes a healthy and adequate diet varies from one age group to another. Although young people need more calories than older people, excess weight in men is stored in the tummy and hips for women. Moreover, other organs of the body will also have fat stored in them, including the liver and all the blood vessels.

Are livers of Nigerians also being destroyed unknowingly due to inappropriate diet? “Fatty liver disease is a well known disease all over the world, Nigeria inclusive.

It is common but Nigeria lacks data on its prevalence because people do not have regular liver tests to ascertain its functionality until something fatal happens to them and then they are rushed to the hospital on emergency,” said Mr Tunde Ajobo, a dietician, UCH, Ibadan.

Mr Ajobo, warning that individuals should be careful of foods they eat, including intake of alcoholic drinks because this could have implications for body organs, also stressed the need for adequate intake of water to help the liver in its function.

“Water helps in lubrication. Also liver contains a lot of water itself and as such adequate intake of water is important to ensure its functionality,” he said.

Moreover, Mr Ajobo suggested consumption of walnuts to help ensure healthy liver being a rich source of antioxidants.

Use of medicines indiscriminately and herbs, he urged people to dissuade from given that they could also destroy the liver. He said: “The liver does a lot of work in the body and so it is important that people be mindful of what they put into their mouths.”

Fatty liver is diagnosed with a blood test and liver ultrasound scan. Many people with a fatty liver are unaware that they even have a liver problem, as the symptoms can be vague and non-specific, especially in the early stages. Most people with fatty liver feel generally unwell, and find they are becoming increasingly fatigued and overweight for no apparent reason.

Fatty liver disease is a called silent disease whose symptoms — including fatigue, weight loss, excessive sweating and weakness — doesn’t show up until the disease is advanced. Even though there is no formal treatment for fatty liver disease, medical experts’ advice is to lose weight, eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep.

On the other hand, good nutrition - a balanced diet with adequate calories, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates - can actually help the damaged liver to regenerate new liver cells. In fact, in some liver diseases, nutrition becomes an essential form of treatment.

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