‘Exposing’ the causes of fatty liver disease

However, up to 25-30% of fatty liver cases can progress to hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.

What is the cause of fatty liver disease?

There are many causes of fatty liver disease such as: consuming a lot of alcohol, fat, sweets, “dirty” foods, pharmaceutical chemicals (chemotherapy, using anti-inflammatory drugs…), being overweight, having diabetes, hyperlipidemia. In addition, people who lose too much weight and lack nutrients also increase the risk of fatty liver disease.

Fatty liver is a common disease but progresses silently, without obvious symptoms

Over time, under the influence of many factors, the amount of fat in the liver will increase. Fatty liver develops gradually. If there is no solution to prevent the increase in fatty tissue in the liver, it will cause unpredictable consequences. Information from the 2015 International Liver Disease Conference shows that 1/4 of fatty liver cases will progress to steatohepatitis and cirrhosis. In addition, nearly 30% of liver cancer cases are related to steatohepatitis.

Mechanism of fatty liver disease formation – Knowledge that not everyone knows

Based on the cause, fatty liver is divided into two groups: alcoholic fatty liver and non-alcoholic fatty liver. All mechanisms of fatty liver formation involve the decisive “participation” of a type of cell called Kupffer (located in the hepatic sinusoids). Specifically, when Kupffer cells are excessively activated by toxic factors such as alcohol, toxins, or complications from diseases… they will produce inflammatory substances such as TNF-α, TGF-β, Interleukin-8…, in which TNF-α is considered the main factor causing fatty liver cells and Interleukin-8 increases neutrophil activation and leads to steatohepatitis. Specifically:

Fatty liver caused by alcohol: Alcohol in beer will increase the destruction of lipids in peripheral tissues and increase the amount of free fatty acids from fatty tissue to the liver, thus increasing triglyceride accumulation in the liver. Specifically, alcohol causes Kupffer cells to become overactive, disrupting the process of fatty acid oxidation, thereby increasing fat accumulation in the liver. On the other hand, alcohol also promotes the transfer of toxins and bacteria from the intestines to the liver, which further activates Kupffer cells excessively, producing inflammatory substances, increasing the production of free radicals, promoting metabolism. natural death of liver cells. In addition, inflammatory substances also increase neutrophil activation, leading to fatty liver.