Did you know having elevated liver enzymes means your liver cells are dying? Most people are not aware of the serious effects an unhealthy diet can have on their liver. Everyone knows that consuming too much sugar can cause weight gain, rot your teeth and raise your risk of type 2 diabetes. Not everyone is aware that sugar can actually cause harm to your liver cells in a similar fashion to alcohol.

A high sugar diet is the biggest risk factor for the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It’s not that surprising when you consider that the liver is the primary site of sugar metabolism in your body. Also, sugar causes harmful microbes to grow in the gut. These bugs can travel to the liver and harm it.

Fatty liver is an increasingly common disease that is thought to affect at least 40 percent of people living in the USA. It’s even more prevalent in overweight people. In reality, the incidence of fatty liver is probably much greater because many people simply don’t know they have the condition. In the early stages, fatty liver can produce no symptoms, or very mild symptoms that most people don’t attribute to their liver.

Most common signs of a fatty liver

The most common signs of a fatty liver include the following:

  • Abdominal obesity.
  • Elevated blood triglycerides
  • Low HDL “good” cholesterol
  • Other possible signs of fatty liver can include fatigue, indigestion, over-heating and excessive sweating, as well as nausea.

A recent study published in the Journal of Hepatology and conducted at Tufts University looked at the impact of sugary drinks on liver health. The study assessed the dietary questionnaires of 2,634 individuals, who were mostly comprised of middle aged men and women. Researchers looked at the frequency of consumption of sugary beverages and subsequent risk of fatty liver disease.

The sugary beverages consisted of soft drinks, fruit drinks and fruit punches. The participants received a CT scan of their liver to see how much fat is inside it. People who reported drinking at least one sugary beverage each day were found to be 60 percent more likely to have a fatty liver, compared to people who said they never consumed these drinks. In fact, the more sugary beverages a person drank, the higher their risk of fatty liver. The researchers only looked at the types of drinks the participants consumed; there are plenty of foods that are high in sugar as well and these also raise the risk of developing a fatty liver.

What does this have to do with killing liver cells? When excess fat accumulates inside the liver, it causes harm to liver cells. If this damage is allowed to continue year after year, it significantly raises the risk of cirrhosis of the liver. People with a fatty liver typically have elevated liver enzymes on a blood test called a liver function test. This is the most common way fatty liver is first detected.

Liver enzymes belong inside your liver cells where they carry out a number of metabolic functions. If your liver cells become damaged, these enzymes leak into your bloodstream and produce an elevated reading on a blood test.

Have you had a liver function test recently?

It’s important to monitor the health of your liver from time to time. We place a lot of emphasis on liver health because the liver is such a metabolically busy organ. It performs hundreds of functions in your body, and if it’s not healthy your overall health can seriously suffer. Luckily the liver has a remarkable ability to heal itself, but it can only cope with so much before a serious health problem develops.

The ingredients in Livatone Plus have been specifically formulated to assist with liver detoxification, protect liver cells and repair cells that have been damaged.

Reference:
Ma, J; Fox, CS; Jacques, PF; Speliotes, EK; Hoffmann, U; Smith, CE; Saltzman, E; and McKeown, NM. (2015, June 5). Sugar-Sweetened Beverage, Diet Soda, and Fatty Liver Disease in the Framingham Study Cohorts. Journal of Hepatology.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.

Purchase Products Related to this Article