(NaturalHealth365) Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become an epidemic in the U.S. – with over 100 million people being affected by this disease.  To make matters even worse, most people have no idea it’s happening to them.  To be clear: poor liver function has the potential to progress to more serious health issues like, chronic liver inflammation, scarring and cancer.

In the past, experts simply believed that NAFLD affected primarily overweight individuals.  And, while that’s true that obesity is connected to a fatty liver – there is a much bigger problem (no pun intended) for those walking around with a “healthy” body weight.

In fact, research reveals that even those who are not overweight can be affected by a fatty liver and researchers uncovered evidence that NAFLD presents itself in different ways based upon both body mass index (BMI) and gender.

SHOCKING truth about “non-obese nonalcoholic fatty liver disease”

Conventionally-speaking, NAFLD is commonly associated with high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and excess body weight.  No doubt, we’ve seen this disease explode in numbers – within the U.S. – as a direct proportion to the obesity epidemic.

However, it’s recently become more common in Asia despite the fact that those living in that area of the world tend to not be obese compared to the population in Europe and the United States.  So, you can imagine the surprise of researchers when they discovered “non-obese NAFLD.”

To make matters even more shocking: researchers discovered that non-obese NAFLD has a higher mortality rate than that of obese NAFLD.

Normally, increased visceral fat and reduced skeletal mass present as strong risk factors for the development of fatty liver in patients with obesity. However, for non-obese NAFLD, researchers didn’t have this type of insight and started looking at both non-obese and obese patients.

They discovered that a quarter of the both males and females had non-obese fatty liver disease. Researchers were surprised to find that these individuals had lower muscle strength and skeletal muscle mass than patients with NAFLD who also were diagnosed with obesity. Belly fat was low in these patients, and the study found only a modest increase in insulin resistance and liver fatty accumulation.

Researchers commented that these results show that there are key differences in how fatty liver disease presents itself in men and women who aren’t obese. And it’s a reminder that even individuals without obesity are at risk for fatty liver disease.

Want to AVOID COVID-related health complications?

Studies have found that patients with fatty liver disease have a great risk of hospitalization with COVID due to COVID-related complications.  With this study on non-obese NAFLD, we now know that even more people are likely at risk for this increased risk of coronavirus complications.

Bottom line: we need to have a greater appreciation (and respect) for healthy liver function.  Simply put, a healthy liver is crucial for us to enjoy a healthy life.  Liver function literally affects every organ and system of the body from hormone production, blood sugar regulation and the removal of harmful toxins from the body.  If your liver struggles, so will you.

Find out how poor liver function can increase the risk of autoimmune disorders, cancer, diabetes, heart disease plus much more!  Own the Fatty Liver Docu-Class, created by Jonathan Landsman.

Sources for this article include:

Eurekalert.org
NaturalHealth365.com