The danger of NASH and fatty liver disease

Fatty liver disease is often considered the precursor to insulin resistance, or diabetes. John Merendino, MD, discusses other risks associated with NASH and fatty liver disease and ways to treat the condition.

Transcript

00:00

If people have more than about 10% of their liver comprised of fat, then they have fatty liver.

00:12

All of us have fat cells in our liver. But under normal circumstances, it only makes up about 5% of the liver mass.

00:20

Fatty liver is often seen as part of diabetes or pre-diabetes. And one of the underlying causes is

00:27

thought to be insulin resistance, the same thing that leads to diabetes over the long term.

00:35

Fatty liver is a part of insulin resistance. And people who have insulin resistance have abnormal triglyceride levels in their blood,

00:43

they have abnormally low levels of good cholesterol, they tend to have slightly high blood pressure readings,

00:50

they have fatty liver, and they have high blood sugar levels that eventually progressed high enough to become diabetes.

00:58

Once we understand better what the steps are that lead to that progression, I think we'll have more effective ways to treat and possibly cure

01:05

NASH. In most cases, the last fat that we gain

01:14

and the first fat that we lose is into our internal organs. And so you don't have to lose a lot of weight

01:21

to see a specific benefit in terms of getting rid of the fat from your liver. [MUSIC PLAYING]