However, according to Dr. Dao Hong, Deputy Head of the Department of Endocrinology - Metabolism, Anzhen Hospital Beijing, if detected early and intervened properly, fatty liver can be completely improved, even recovered.
According to experts, Asians have a characteristic of being more prone to accumulating visceral fat than Westerners. Even when not significantly overweight, fat can still deposit in organs, especially the liver. This is a form of "hidden obesity", and also a sign that the body is metabolically disordered.
Fatty liver disease not only increases the risk of hepatitis and cirrhosis but is also an early warning about the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases," Dr. Dao Hong said.
According to her, the key to improving fatty liver is to adjust lifestyle according to the principle of "eating reasonably, exercising regularly". People should reduce their calorie intake, limit refined carbohydrates, cakes, fried foods, soft drinks and milk tea. Even fruit containing a lot of sugar, if eaten too much, can increase fat accumulation in the liver.
In the opposite direction, maintaining regular exercise with aerobic exercises combined with strength training will help increase energy consumption and reduce visceral fat. Experts emphasize that there is no need to exercise too hard, the important thing is to maintain it regularly for a long time.
For severe cases of fatty liver, just changing lifestyle may not be enough. Dr. Dao Hong said that currently some drugs to treat obesity, especially the group of drugs that act on GLP-1 receptors, can support weight loss and reduce fat accumulation in the liver. However, treatment effectiveness depends heavily on the time of intervention.
If the disease has progressed to severe cirrhosis or cirrhosis, the recovery rate will be significantly reduced. Therefore, people at risk should have early screening to detect fatty liver and assess the extent of liver damage," she advised.
According to Dr. Dao Hong, besides monitoring the liver condition, people with fatty liver also need to control blood sugar, blood pressure, blood fat and weight well to reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. "Fated liver is a signal that the body's metabolism is having problems. This is when everyone needs to adjust their lifestyle before the disease progresses more severely," the expert emphasized.
