The liver is one of the main organs in the body that is responsible for plenty of functions from protein production and blood detoxification to iron storage and immune complex production. There is a wide range of diseases that affect the liver and one of the most common diseases in recent times all over the world is fatty liver disease or steatosis which basically means that the liver is surrounded by fatty tissue and there are fat globules inside of the hepatocytes when the fat content in the liver exceeds 10% it is considered to be fatty liver disease.
There are two main types of this disease either alcoholic or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis being more common in females and people suffering from obesity, these conditions can be asymptomatic in most people and show symptoms only under certain circumstances, it is usually a benign condition and doesn’t progress very rapidly but in people who already have a bad liver function to start with it can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver failure. it usually presents by having a dull aching right upper abdominal pain along with extreme fatigue and weakness.
NAFLD or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is one of the most common liver diseases affecting around 30 to 40 percent of adults in the United States, it is related to genetic, dietary and lifestyle conditions this disease develops in two stages first your liver cells get filled up with triglycerides and fatty acids and then these fats go through peroxidation and cause mitochondrial dysfunction and liver inflammation which leads to increased fatty acid synthesis and production of more VLDL very-low-density lipoproteins which are extremely harmful to all body tissues especially your heart and vessels and this vicious cycle continues unless you seek out some behavioral changes to address this disease as there are no available medications for the treatment of this condition.
FOODS FOR FATTY LIVER DISEASE
1. Garlic
Garlic is a root vegetable belonging to the Liliaceae family it has been used for centuries all around the world since many ancient cultures and civilizations have identified its fantastic medicinal properties that are in no other type of vegetable making them specific for garlic, these properties are employed through the broad spectrum of organosulfur compounds present in garlic like allium, allicin and vinyl dithiins which all exert wonderful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions, garlic has been long known to lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases and preventing some types of cancer.
Garlic has also been proven to have beneficial effect on liver steatosis by down regulating the expression of some Genes that produce lipogenic compounds and up regulating the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha as potent lipolysis promoting compounds leading to significant improvement in steatohepatitis and a significant reduction in serum liver enzymes independent of weight loss or physical activity
The consumption of raw garlic has been proven to lower the risk of developing liver cancer, garlic also is very rich in selenium a compound responsible for cleansing the liver and detoxifying it and protecting it from frequent damage even better than some types of medications
Make sure to keep garlic in your diet and add more of it to your food to get some of its fantastic medicinal properties, try to get over the bad garlic breath, mince garlic and use it to add flavor to all of your cooked meals, or get garlic powder and use it to season your food, you can even infuse oils with garlic or roast them to make them softer and lose some of its sharpness and spread them on bread with some tomatoes, cheese, and herbs to make the most beloved garlic bread.
