Killer liver disease on rise due to overeating
Jonathan Leake
The Times
Gerry Gajadharsingh writes:
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as the name suggests, is where the liver gets into trouble as a consequence of excess fat accumulating in the liver. The research below is correct to flag this up, it used to be thought that its just people who drink too much developed it. Whilst 94% of obese people have this disease, 25% of people who are just a little overweight also develop it. Contrary to popular belief this disease does not develop by eating too much fat. Think Foie Gras (French for Fat Liver), (the forced feeding of birds with corn, usually, is what makes the liver fat). A similar mechanism happens in humans. Whilst a lot of people blame this on excess calories, it’s more to do with the type of food that you consume and consumption of excess refined carbohydrates is a major culprit. That’s probably we are getting non-obese people developing this disease. It is suggested that 33% of the UK population have it, along with many other medical conditions, such as type 11 diabetes, hypertension etc, because you may not feel unwell, you may think you’re fine!
BRITAIN is being hit by an epidemic of liver disease, directly linked to overeating, putting it alongside cancer, heart disease and stroke as one of the country’s top five causes of death, a new study reveals.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the only one of the big five killers whose incidence is rising, entirely because Britons are eating more than their livers can cope with. The researchers say up to 33% of Britons have the disease, most of whom do not know it.
The scale of the problem is so great because the illness affects people who are only slightly overweight as well as the obese.
Details will be revealed in new research to be published by the EU showing that Britain is among the countries worst affected. It will also announce a new Europe-wide liver disease research programme based in northeast England, where rates are among the worst of all.
“This is a disease associated with food and overeating,” said Quentin Anstee, a consultant hepatologist (liver specialist) at Newcastle University, where the project will be based. “It has been known for years but was thought to affect relatively few people, linked to obesity.
“What is emerging is that not only do 94% of obese people have this disease (about a quarter of the population) but it also hits 25% of people who are just a bit overweight.”
A study published in The Lancet said that up to 33% of Britons had the condition, with the NHS facing annual treatment costs of £5.5bn. This makes it a bigger problem than liver disease caused by alcohol, which costs £3.5bn.
“Liver disease in the UK is the one glaring exception to the vast improvements made during the past 30 years in health and life expectancy for chronic disorders such as stroke, heart disease, and many cancers,” said the report. “Mortality rates have increased 400% since 1970.”
Such statistics are jarring given that the disease is the least well known of the country’s biggest killers. Physicians say a key cause is its confusing name — harking back to an era when alcohol was the biggest killer. They suggest renaming it “weight-related liver disease or even “food-related liver disease”.
“People do not understand that overeating or eating badly can damage their livers just like drinking too much,” said Professor Roy Taylor, director of the Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre, who helped pioneer the scanning techniques now revealing the scale of the disease. “We have patients whose livers are 60% fat.”
Alexis Gauthier discovered the hard way how closely the disease is linked to diet, when he was taken ill at his Michelin-starred French restaurant, Gauthier Soho, in London.
At 6ft, weighing 13½st, he thought he had nothing to worry about. “My foods are traditional French with lots of butter, cream and red meat. I was sampling lots of it, but a scan showed my liver was laden with fat. I was 40 years old, slim and had a liver like someone obese.”
Gauthier recovered by rigorously counting calories — and now adds calorie counts to his menus so customers can do the same. “All restaurants should,” he said. “It’s my duty as a chef.”
For scientists a key question is just how excess food damages the liver. Professor Markus Peck-Radosavljevic, of the European Association for the Study of the Liver, said: “This condition is only just being understood because it was thought that fat in the liver was not harmful. Many doctors assumed people with liver disease were drinking.
“What is emerging is that excess fat in the liver acts as a toxin, inflaming cells and causing cirrhosis and cancer.”
It means the scale of sickness and deaths attributable to food-related liver disease is being revised sharply upwards — although this is complicated by the fact that many people who overeat also drink alcohol, compounding the impact.
According to the Lancet report, 600,000 people have some form of liver disease in England and Wales, of whom 60,000 people have cirrhosis. This led to 57,682 hospital admissions and 10,948 deaths in 2012.
For Glyn Seymour, 67, a retired systems analyst from Co Durham, hospitalised after vomiting blood, the diagnosis was simple. Doctors found an internal bleed due to pressure from a fat-damaged liver — but he hardly drank.
He said: “Like most people, I thought liver disease was caused by alcohol, not food, and I had never heard of this condition — until I got it.”