NAFLD/NASH
Nationally, more than 25 million Americans have Liver Disease, placing it at 1 in every 10 of us. In the Mid-South, 8.14 million are at risk for NAFLD, the fatty liver disease that is not associated with alcohol use, but in which the liver cells are storing too much fat. Over time, this fat can cause scarring on the liver becoming a cirrhosis or a disease known as NASH.
Researchers are still working toward an understanding of why NAFLD/NASH occur and even to find effective treatments, but what is known is that there are risk-factors associated with people who develop this liver disease. They include obesity, type 2 diabetes, gastric-bypass surgery and high cholesterol.
The good news about NAFLD/NASH is that changes in diet and exercise have the potential to restore full liver function to patients.