Fatty Liver Disease

 ne of the best books on diabetes is The Diabetes Code by Jason Fung, M.D. Fung points out that medical focus in diabetes is on blood sugars, while the main driver of diabetes is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). High insulin levels lead to storage of fat in the liver. Fatty liver leads to insulin resistance-- the inability of insulin to do its normal work. Insulin resistance causes the body to promote the production of more insulin to try and get its necessary work done. This elevated insulin increases the storage of fat in the liver and the cycle goes on.

Heavy intake of alcohol and fructose are particularly effective in promoting fatty infiltration of the liver. Heavy fructose feeding in one study increased generation in the liver fivefold in 8 days and increased liver fat by 38% in that time. Heavy fructose feeding for 8 weeks can move a person's blood sugar readings into the prediabetic range.

The good news is that fatty liver disease is easily reversible. Avoid sugars, especially fructose loads, and alcohol. Most of the cells in the body can metabolize glucose or starch sugar. Only the liver can metabolize fructose which is why it is so easy to overload the body with fructose. Fructose consumption among individuals today is 2-5 or more times the consumption of the fructose consumption of the average person in 1900.

Fung writes, "Fatty liver is a completely reversible process." Reducing insulin levels by the consumption of less carbohydrate, especially sugars, leads to lower insulin levels and the reversal of fatty liver.

It is important to realize that it is fat in the liver that is the main driver of insulin resistance. Fat in other parts of the body has little effect on insulin resistance by comparison. A person can be very thin with a fatty liver and a prediabetic or diabetic condition.

For a healthy liver reduce the intake of simple sugars and excess carbohydrates. Good supplements to improve a fatty liver include Lipotropic Adjunct, Sport Endurance (defatted liver), and Lecithin. Lipotropic Adjunct can be translated as follows: Lipo "fat", Tropic "to eat or feed" and Adjunct "helper". This supplement helps the body break down fat so the body can burn it for energy. Lecithin works in a similar manner, but Lipotropic Adjunct is about 30 times more effective according to the work of a researcher years ago.