Fatty Liver Disease: A silent epidemic is spreading in India. Its name is fatty liver disease. The recent and very shocking report of the medical journal Lancet has given sleepless nights to the health experts of the country. According to the report, 4 out of every 10 people in India are suffering from the problem of non-alcoholic fatty liver. If we add only adults to this, then about one in four adult Indians has non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). An even bigger matter of concern is that most of the people who have fatty liver disease do not even know that they have fatty liver disease because its symptoms are not visible superficially and it is not detected even by simple tests.

what was said in the report
The Lancet report states that a study was conducted on fatty liver in 27 cities of the country. It was found that 4 out of 10 people have fatty liver disease. This study was published last month in the medical journal The Lancet Regional Health-South East Asia. In this, 7,764 adults were examined, out of which 39 percent were found to have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This disease is now also known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). CSIR professor and lead researcher of the study, Shantanu Sengupta, said that most of the studies were limited to hospitals or special risk groups. Therefore, it was difficult to accurately estimate the real burden of this disease in the country. But the Phenom India–CSIR Health Cohort provided an opportunity to overcome this shortcoming. This allowed the risk of heart and metabolic diseases in different states to be compared in a similar manner. The report said that if it is not treated or prevented in time, then in the future there may be a big increase in serious cases like cirrhosis (liver shrinkage), liver cancer and the need for liver transplant.

Why does fatty liver disease occur?
Fatty liver disease occurs when excessive fat accumulates in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol. When more than 5 to 10 percent of the total weight of the liver becomes fat, it is called steatosis. This is the initial stage of fatty liver disease. In this study, scientists examined permanent employees of 37 CSIR labs and their spouses. During the investigation, risk factors related to stiffness in the liver, heart and metabolism were observed.

What causes fatty liver disease
According to Mayo Clinic, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance and genes are mainly responsible for fatty liver disease. Bad lifestyle is responsible for all this. That is, due to sedentary lifestyle, fatty liver disease has started occurring at an early age. People are so busy in their work that they do not get time to exercise. Apart from this, the food habits have become very bad. Outside food which contains more oil, salt and sugar is mainly responsible for this disease. In some cases, increase in cholesterol and triglycerides in the body can also increase fatty liver disease.

Who are at greater risk?
The research team examined factors such as obesity, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, cholesterol levels, blood pressure and stiffness (fibrosis) in the liver and saw how these were related to the disease. The results found that obesity was common among people who had this disease. But if someone had both diabetes and high blood pressure, then the risk of fatty liver increased further. Therefore, it is important for such people to get regular checkups done.

What to do to avoid fatty liver disease
Dr. Paras Aggarwal, head of the Metabolic Disorders Department at Marengo Asia Hospital, said that to prevent fatty liver disease, you will first have to give up the modern routine. If we maintain the lifestyle of our ancestors, the risk of fatty liver will almost disappear. In this, eat home-made natural food which does not contain much oil and salt. Consume plenty of green vegetables, fruits, seeds etc. Eat pulses daily and exercise daily. In exercise, you should walk every day, go for a short run, go up and down the stairs, keep your body active in some way or the other. Along with this, be happy and get enough sleep. If you do this, not only fatty liver but also the risk of many metabolic diseases will be reduced.