Do you have questions about what could be going on with your liver health? Maybe you found that you have high liver enzymes, fatty liver or NAFLD on a test of some kind, an image, etc. In this video, we're going to look at the stages of fatty liver disease.
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00:00 Introduction to Fatty Liver Disease
We're going to look at how the body and the liver, in particular, progress through those stages and some key characteristics on blood work and imaging that you might find at different stages. We're also going to address what the most important thing is to reverse it when that's possible.We'll also talk about when it may not be possible to actually reverse fatty liver disease or NAFLD.
01:03 Understanding the Stages of Fatty Liver Disease
For most people, this is going to come down to managing your insulin resistance. We'll talk in detail about that in this video. So as I said, my name is Dr. Terranella, and I make these videos to help you go beyond basic health, but this particular video isn't tailored to any individual. So please read this video disclaimer before we jump into the video details. So in this video, we're going to discuss the stages of fatty liver disease and fatty liver, also known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a.k.a. NAFLD, can present in a lot of different ways. Most people find out about having fatty liver after going through some kind of imaging done to, people find out that they have some kind of fatty liver or fatty liver disease, and now your liver ultrasound shows fatty liver.
01:35 The Commonality and Causes of Fatty Liver
02:50 The Role of Insulin Resistance in Fatty Liver
03:25 Steatosis: The Early Stage of Fatty Liver Disease
05:21 Progression to Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)
08:20 The Serious Stage of Liver Fibrosis
10:46 Managing Liver Health: Enzymes, Insulin Resistance, and Diet
12:07 Diagnostic Imaging and Tests for Liver Health
13:04 Conclusion and Next Steps
So it's important to know that while this may be alarming to you, it is very common. It's normal, but it is very common in today's population due to higher incidents of insulin resistance, obesity, and Diabetes. Still, not all types of fatty liver disease are the same, so it's important to understand. NAFLD, also known as NAFLD for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
So, NAFLD is a broad term that encompasses the range of different liver conditions characterized by the accumulation or infiltration of fat into the liver cells, also known as hepatocytes. While some people with this NAFLD may consume alcohol, these individuals are getting this condition from non-alcohol-related reasons. As you'll come to understand, fatty liver is closely associated with metabolic risk factors like obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and the like. Simply having increased abdominal girth can put you at higher risk for developing fatty liver and has to do with how your body is processing the food that you're putting in. We're going to discuss that.
Of course, alcohol can damage your liver directly. And this is really the distinction here, fatty liver is closely associated with those metabolic risk factors and The subsequent damage coming from the poor metabolism of certain macronutrients and alcohol is having a direct impact damaging those liver cells. So alcohol does still play a role, as much as it's a carb contributor in contributing to metabolic and insulin resistance burden, and it refers to the accumulation of excess fat in the liver cells and liver tissue without significant inflammation or liver cell damage. There is still some occurring there, but it's not as pronounced as in the later stages.
The other thing too is steatosis is usually considered reversible and not going to necessarily progress to more severe stages of NAFLD in every individual. That is, of course, if you get your act together and try to reverse some of these insulin resistance markers. So for most people, it basically involves keeping your insulin resistance numbers in check so that the accumulation of fat goes down.
In particular, this is going to have to do with triglycerides. As noted in other videos on insulin resistance, carbohydrates get stored as glycogen, and when you have your glycogen stores filled up, that extra carbohydrate then gets stored as triglycerides. So you have one storage place for that glycogen, and glycogen just being a storage form of glucose. One of the main sources is your liver and then the muscles. So once those areas get filled up, then the body's going to start making more triglycerides as long as it doesn't need those carbohydrates for immediate use, like you're doing a marathon or something. So after the glycogen stores are filled up, the body starts making triglycerides, and depending on how much is there, if you're consuming way too much for what your body needs,