Without alcoholism, you can still quietly have cirrhosis

The liver is susceptible to the diet with too much sugar.

Located on the right side of the abdomen, behind the bottom ribs is your liver. This organ holds an extremely important task to the body: converting toxins into harmless substances. Regardless of whether the toxin produced by the body or loaded into drugs, drugs, alcohol . will have to go through the liver.

As the busiest organ in the body, the liver will also consume the most energy. On average, it consumes more than 20% of the calories you load each day. All used to nourish cells and make it work to metabolize protein, fat, powdered sugar, and many other functions.

Picture 1 of Without alcoholism, you can still quietly have cirrhosis
The liver converts toxins into harmless substances.

The liver acts as a chemical plant in the body. It also helps metabolize sugar absorbed from food into energy , under the help of insulin. Activities are so complex that until now, no artificial device has completely replaced the role of the liver.

Although it plays a very important role, the liver is susceptible to diet. Excessive consumption of fructose can cause fat droplets to begin to form in liver cells. Some fructose-rich foods include: honey, prepared items, soft drinks, fruits .

Before 1980, doctors rarely observed this fat accumulation. It was later defined as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease .

Until now, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects 30% of adults. Notably, the disease is often associated with diabetes and obesity . About 70% - 90% of people who are obese or type 2 diabetes will also develop fatty liver, even though they consume low alcoholic beverages.

In fact, experts consider non-alcoholic fatty liver to be a sign of metabolic syndrome. That is, it ranks among the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and stroke.

Picture 2 of Without alcoholism, you can still quietly have cirrhosis
High sugar diets accumulate fat in the liver, which can lead to inflammation and cirrhosis.

The accumulation of fat in the liver is very quiet and difficult to identify. It does not manifest externally as fat on other parts of the body. A 2012 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that. People who eat up to 1,000 calories of sugary foods every day (compared to their normal levels) for 3 weeks only gain 2% of their body weight. Even so, the amount of fat in the liver has increased to 27%.

And because of a relatively tight association, when they lose weight, the amount of fat in the liver is returned to normal. But if not detected early, the liver can become inflamed. At this time, it is called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

If the inflammation develops enough, it will turn the healthy tissue of the liver into scar tissue and lose its function. Many important metabolic activities of the liver will be reduced. Exactly, now you face cirrhosis.

Unexpectedly, many people think cirrhosis only occurs in alcoholics. Now, you know that it also comes from a diet that consumes too much sugar. And yet, fatty liver will make it resistant to insulin activities.

This is dangerous when insulin cannot activate the liver to metabolize blood sugar. On the one hand, the amount of sugar accumulated causes type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, the pancreas releases more insulin to urge the liver to work. High insulin levels cause body fat and weight gain. The overactive pancreas will also be damaged.