Eight major factors that can cause fatty liver—how many do you identify with?

Release date:

2020-07-09

1. Fatty liver, a major threat to human health

What is fatty liver? Simply put, it means the liver becomes fat and enlarged, with its tissue cells transforming from lean muscle into marbled fat. Pathologically, it refers to a condition where the liver's fat content exceeds 5% by wet weight, or when 50% of liver cells show signs of fatty degeneration under microscopic examination.

The widespread prevalence of fatty liver often leads many people to view it merely as a subhealth condition, dismissing it lightly. However, in reality, fatty liver is one of the major threats to human health.

Fatty liver can easily progress into serious conditions such as steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, liver fibrosis, and even liver cancer. Although the liver has regenerative capabilities, transforming reversible fatty liver into irreversible liver cancer often hinges on just one thing: your lack of awareness and careless, self-indulgent attitude.

If you find it hard to grasp the severity of the disease, have you ever heard of the "boiling frog" analogy? People who develop fatty liver are like the "frog" in that metaphor—ignoring it only means waiting for the water to slowly boil.

2. The Eight Major Factors That Cause Fatty Liver

In our daily lives, the incidence of fatty liver disease ranks second only to viral hepatitis. But what exactly causes fatty liver to strike? Here are the eight main contributing factors.

1. Nutritional factors: Long-term malnutrition and hunger are significant contributors to the development of fatty liver. Patients who receive prolonged, continuous intravenous infusions of high-concentration glucose may also eventually develop fatty liver.
　　2. Alcohol Abuse: Alcohol can disrupt fat metabolism in the liver, leading to a massive accumulation of fat cells and causing "chronic alcoholic fatty liver disease."
　　3. Obesity: Obese individuals are prone to developing fatty liver disease, and in patients with severe obesity, the incidence of fatty liver can be as high as 60%–90%.
　　4. Medications or chemical toxins: Substances such as steroid hormones, growth hormones, salicylic acid preparations, certain sedatives and sleep aids, as well as commonly used industrial or laboratory chemicals like benzene, arsenic, alcohol, iodoform, carbon tetrachloride, antimony, and others, can easily trigger fatty liver disease.
　　5. Infections: Conditions such as tuberculosis, chronic ulcerative colitis, chronic bronchitis, and chronic liver, gallbladder, or kidney diseases often occur alongside fatty liver.
　　6. Endocrine disorders: Conditions such as diabetes, anterior pituitary dysfunction, and hyperthyroidism can lead to fatty liver complications. Notably, among diabetic patients, the prevalence of fatty liver ranges from 20% to 80%.
　　7. Chronic hypoxia—such as severe anemia, cardiovascular and respiratory system diseases, or working at high altitudes and plateaus—can impair the liver's fat metabolism function, leading to fatty liver disease.
　　8. Others: People who don’t exercise much or work sitting for long periods may also develop fatty liver.

3. Medications for treating fatty liver

Currently, there is no medication available to completely eradicate fatty liver. Inosine, as a nucleoside compound naturally present in the body and a key substance in the synthesis of adenine, can directly act on pyruvate oxidase, enhancing the activity of coenzyme A. By helping low-energy, hypoxic cells maintain their metabolic functions, inosine helps activate liver function, while also inhibiting hepatocyte apoptosis caused by liver damage and accelerating the cells' natural repair process. For these reasons, inosine is commonly used clinically as a drug to protect the liver.

From May 2014 to September 2016, Zhengzhou People's Hospital admitted 102 elderly patients with fatty liver disease and randomly divided them into two groups. The control group received conventional inosine-based liver-protective treatment, while the other group was given inosine combined with dibucanol tablets. The clinical outcomes were as follows:

After treatment, both groups showed significantly reduced levels of ALT and AST in their bodies, indicating that inosine can improve liver function. Moreover, the biciclic group exhibited markedly lower ALT and AST levels compared to the control group after treatment, suggesting that the combination of inosine and biciclic tablets enhances the therapeutic effect, leading to significant improvements in liver function and lipid profiles among patients with fatty liver disease.

References:

[1] Han Li. Efficacy of Shuanghuan Choon Tablets Combined with Inosine Tablets in Treating Senile Fatty Liver, and Their Effects on Liver Function and Lipid Levels[J]. Northern Pharmacy, 2018, 015(003):148-149.

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