Health Sabz

Fatty Liver: Can Keto Diet Cure It?

Introduction – Fatty Liver

Fatty liver is a disease that occurs due to excessive accumulation of fat in liver cells. This is liver steatosis. 

 A small amount of fat is no problem, but too much body fat can cause liver inflammation, thereby damaging the liver, and also leading to liver failure. It is okay to have a fat content of no more than 5%, but exceeding this percentage can cause liver disease. 

Reasons of fatty liver 

 Fatty liver occurs due to obesity, excessive abdominal fat, excessive drinking, diabetes, consumption of large amounts of insulin resistance, high blood pressure and high fat content in the blood.

Fatty liver can also cause scarring of the liver. 

 The most common symptoms of fatty liver are weakness, nose bleeding, yellow eyes, pale skin, sudden abdominal pain and swelling, swelling of the legs, and enlarged male breasts. Body, diet, feeling tired and lack of energy, vomiting, loss of appetite, and sometimes weight loss may also be a symptom. 

 A blood test can prove that the level of enzymes in the liver is very high, which is easy to diagnose. However, ultrasound is used to confirm fatty liver. 

Keto diet benefits 

 A ketogenic diet can help you cure fatty liver. Contains low carbohydrate foods because carbohydrates will increase your weight.

The Ketogenic diet includes oily fish, coffee, nuts, and vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, and salads. 

There are two types of this disease: 

  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver 
  • Alcoholic fatty liver 

1. Non-alcoholic fatty liver: 

 NFLD is the most common liver disease. This is not due to drinking. This is the early stage of liver disease. 

 Unfortunately, this liver disease is mostly undiagnosed, which can also lead to more serious liver disease, namely non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH. 

 It occurs mainly due to metabolic syndrome, which means that it is due to high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels in the body, high insulin intake and increased abdominal fat. 

 It mainly occurs in the elderly, people with diabetes and high blood pressure, and people with a lot of fat in the abdomen. 

 A person should maintain weight and exercise every day, avoid fat-containing snacks, and follow a ketogenic diet that includes exercise and low-carbohydrate foods. 

 There are two types of non-alcoholic fatty liver: 

  • Simple fatty liver: 

 Simple fatty liver refers to the fat in your liver that can damage liver cells. It usually does not cause much harm to your health. 

 Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH): 

 This type has a much more serious impact on your health than simple fatty liver. It causes inflammation in the human body, which means that a person may experience physical conditions such as swelling, heat and pain. NASH damages liver cells. 

 This can cause serious problems such as liver failure and liver cancer. Without further testing, it is difficult to diagnose non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. 

  • Acute fatty liver of pregnancy: 

 This type is rare but very serious. This liver disease usually occurs during the third trimester of pregnancy. 

 This can affect serious problems for mothers and babies. If a woman is diagnosed with acute fatty liver, the doctor will try to give birth as soon as possible. 

 Postpartum women need the following care. After that, the liver condition will stabilize again. The exact cause of this disease is still unknown. 

2. Alcoholic fatty liver: 

 Alcoholic fatty liver occurs due to heavy drinking, but it is not easy to diagnose. In this case, the liver is enlarged; you often feel pain in your upper abdomen. 

 Quit drinking is easy to cure. If a person is drinking heavily, doctor’s advice and treatment are helpful. On the contrary, it can cause some serious problems, such as: 

 Alcoholic hepatitis, which means that the liver becomes enlarged due to swelling, and this swelling of the liver can cause fever, vomiting, red palms, enlarged blood vessels in the skin, overweight, and male breasts Enlargement, pale skin, and yellow eyes are symptoms of jaundice. 

 Check for enlarged liver. The doctor presses your abdomen. If the liver is enlarged, the doctor can feel it. 

 Alcoholic cirrhosis may also occur due to AFL disease, that is, the accumulation of scar tissue in the human body. 

 The symptoms of alcoholic liver cirrhosis are a large amount of fluid in the abdomen, high blood pressure, and liver failure can also lead to death, internal bleeding, and changes in human nature. 

 Initially suffer from alcoholic hepatitis; then it will become alcoholic cirrhosis, which is very dangerous. 

 Fortunately, fatty liver can be cured through diet and exercise. The ketogenic diet focuses on eliminating carbohydrates in the diet, which helps to reduce weight. 

Changes that will help:

 Studies have shown that low carbohydrates can reduce fat in the liver. The following are guidelines for the ketogenic diet: 

  • Limit carbohydrates to the top 5% of your daily diet. 
  • Fiber is your best bet.  Eat fiber-rich foods such as vegetables at every meal. 
  • Use olive oil, avocado, oily fish coffee and other foods to treat the liver. You will feel the difference 
  • Liver healing supplements are key as recommended by your doctor. 
  • Minimise alcohol intake 
  • Include daily exercise in your routine.

 

Frequently asked questions 

Can keto cure fatty liver?

Absolutely yes, a ketogenic diet is a great and effective way to cure fatty liver disease. It reduces carbohydrates and introduces good fats that help heal the fatty liver 

Can fatty liver be reversed?

It all depends on how early you can recognize the effects of fatty liver and start making required changes. It can be reversed or get better with healthy diet and exercise. Supplements are very helpful as well.

Does keto hurt your liver?

Ketogenic diet is low carbohydrates, balanced protein and high fat diet that is great for weight loss and controlled glycemic number. It has some risks that are hyperlipidemia, elevation of liver enzymes and on set of fatty liver disease.

What happen to liver during ketosis?

The liver fat content and hepatic insulin resistance is decreases during keto day 6 . These changes were associated with increased net hydrolysis of liver triglycerides and decreased endogenous glucose production and serum insulin concentrations. 

Conclusion 

If you strictly follow ketogenic diet it’s very likely that your health condition specially your liver disease will improve tremendously.  Your liver will start working better than before that will have good effect on your life.

It’s a great way of improving your health and living better lifestyle.

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