One of the most studied dietary patterns is the traditional Mediterranean diet (Box 12). This diet is characterised by a high intake of olive oil (which is rich in a healthy type of fat and polyphenols that act as antioxidants), vegetables, fruits and nuts, legumes, whole grains, fish and seafood. It is also characterised by a low intake of red meat and processed foods. Interestingly, one of the principles of the Mediterranean diet is to minimise processed or “fast foods” and to have more home-cooked meals (Fig. 11). The Mediterranean diet has a well-established protective role against CVD and T2D. However, it is important to emphasise that even partial adherence to this dietary pattern (especially a reduction of sugar, saturated fat and processed food in general) and a more culturally adjusted approach can be beneficial.
- Most people with NAFLD are between the ages of 40 and 60 years, but it can affect children and younger adults.
- It is important for patients to develop a full understanding of NAFLD in order to enable them to take an active role in their disease management.
- Besides giving information on all these different aspects of the disease, a liver biopsy can also be very useful to exclude other liver diseases.
- HELLP stands for haemolysis-elevated liver tests-low platelet count.
- When you have NAFLD, the goal is to manage your symptoms, and to prevent your health from getting worse.
Your liver has little or no long-term damage or scarring and is probably still working well. By eating healthily, doing plenty of physical activity and keeping your weight in a healthy range you have a good chance of repairing any damage and reversing your NAFLD. There are 2 main ways to check if you’re likely to have advanced fibrosis (stage 3 or 4) without doing a biopsy – blood tests or a liver scan (transient elastography eg FibroScan™). Acute fatty liver can occur suddenly during pregnancy (acute fatty liver of pregnancy or AFLP) or due to certain drugs or toxins. The main treatment for NAFLD is eating a well-balanced diet, being physically active and (if needed) losing weight. Research shows these can reduce liver fat and in some cases reverse NAFLD.
b. All cardiometabolic risk factors should be checked and treated according to their proper guidelines
As explained before, metabolic problems, and especially the impaired function of fat tissue, are major drivers of the disease (see section 1.c). For this reason, some drugs will focus on fat tissue function and on the mechanisms involved in the regulation of fat and glucose, so on metabolic targets. Other drugs may target inflammation or the formation of scar tissue (fibrosis).249,250 It is clear that many different drugs, with many different targets, could be of interest (Fig. 12). Besides imaging, several individual blood parameters are available for basically the same purpose. Many of them are also still experimental but the interpretation of their results is comparable to liver stiffness measurements.
In summary, our study provides evidence that the increased expression of hepatic FGF21 in HFD-induced NAFLD promotes the progression of breast cancer by enhancing the anti-apoptotic abilities of breast cancer cells. We have observed overexpression of FGF21 in breast cancer tissues, and patients with high FGF21 levels show poorer prognoses. These findings highlight the clinical significance of FGF21 as both a prognostic indicator and a potential target for the treatment of breast cancer. Moreover, our study emphasizes the importance of maintaining liver health in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer, as it reveals the existence of distant crosstalk between the liver and breast cancer.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
Hepatocytes were treated with combined free fatty acids (FFAs), and the abundance of lipid droplets was detected by oil red O staining (Fig. 3B). We observed a modest but significant increase in breast cancer cell viability when treated with conditioned medium from FFAs-treated hepatocytes (Fig. 3C), indicating that NAFLD promotes breast cancer growth. If any of the above risk factors apply to you, it doesn’t mean you’ll definitely develop fatty liver disease. Rather, it means your chances of developing it are slightly higher.
- This allows fat to shift from the abdominal fat and other body areas to the subcutaneous fat.
- Antigen retrieval was performed using citrate buffer and non-specific binding was blocked with 1% goat serum.
- Studies also demonstrate that, besides patients whose disease progresses, there are also patients who improve and others who simply remain stable.57 Disease progression is hence difficult to predict in an individual case.
- Following the treatment, the cells were incubated with JC-10 staining solution (CA1310, Solarbio, Beijing, China) and Hoechst (H3570, Invitrogen) for 30 min.
- Functionally, FGF21 treatment resulted in varying degrees of increased cell viability, as measured by MTS assay (Figs. 6A and S2A).
- Once you are diagnosed and begin to improve your health, you can expect regular follow-up appointments to monitor your NAFLD.
Studies also demonstrate that, besides patients whose disease progresses, there are also patients who improve and others who simply remain stable.57 Disease progression is hence difficult to predict in an individual case. If NAFLD is detected and managed early enough, it is possible to reduce the amount of fat in your liver, which may slow down or even stop the damage, and eventually allow your liver to fully recover. Your body continuously renews most of its structures, resulting in a lot of breakdown products. Along with the kidneys, the liver helps the body to get rid of these waste products.
What does the liver do?
It’s the only way you can keep liver damage from getting worse. You may even be able to undo some of the liver damage that’s already happened. You may need a medically supervised detox program to safely quit drinking and manage withdrawal symptoms. Speak with your doctor about the ongoing progress and results of these trials to get the most up-to-date information on new treatments.
Luckily, many patients will not evolve to severe liver disease and many steps in the evolution are reversible with adequate management. NAFL, non-alcoholic alcoholic liver disease fatty liver; NASH, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The body weight increase induced by pioglitazone warrants further discussion.