Liver Disease—Is There a Link between Fast Food and Liver Damage?

Liver disease and fast food have been linked together for years. However, a recent scientific study has proven that fast food can lead to non-alcoholic fatty disease.

In this article, we will discuss liver disease and its link with fast food, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, symptoms of liver diseases, life expectancy with liver diseases, and possible treatment for the said disease.

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Liver Disease and Fast Food Link

Research shows that consuming fast food in your diet can cause liver diseases. You might think that eating one meal in a restaurant throughout the day will not cause any harm, but this is not true.

If that fast food is one-fifth of your total calorie consumption throughout the day, then it can be severely bad for your liver health. This research classifies fast food as the one that you get from a drive-through restaurant or one that does not require waiting staff. This also includes pizza. Therefore, liver disease and fast food are linked to one another.

Junk food (Image via Pexels/Caleb Oquendo)

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Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Consuming fast food is often associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which result in the accumulation of fat in the liver and can be life-threatening. Studies have also shown that if people suffering from diabetes and obesity consume about twenty percent of their calories via fast food, then they have severely increased levels of fat in their liver in comparison to people who consume less or no fast food in their routine.

Studies have also shown that the general population tends to have increased levels of liver food if one-fifth of their diet is from fast food.

In general, a healthy liver should have less than five percent of fat and even if there is a moderate increase in fat, it can result in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

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Liver Disease Symptoms

Liver diseases necessarily do not have any particular signs or symptoms, but here are some of them that you should be aware of:

• Chronic fatigue
• Nausea and vomiting
• Dark color of urine
• Abdominal pain
• Pale color of the stool
• Yellowish skin color and eyes
• Swelling of ankles and legs

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Life Expectancy with Fatty Liver Disease

Generally, the life expectancy of people suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease tends to be about 2.8 years lower on average for the general population. The life expectancy for females suffering from fatty liver disease is about 2.4 years lower than the general population. While the life expectancy for males suffering from fatty liver disease is about 3.1 years lower than the general population.

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Fatty Liver Disease Treatment

Junk food is related to liver diseases (Image via Pexels/Pixabay)

The fatty liver disease treatment begins by taking measures to lose weight in your body with a combination of exercise and a healthy diet. It will help in addressing the contribution to fatty liver diseases. People with serious problems also need to undergo liver transplantation.

The above article discusses the link between liver disease and fast foods. It is essential to maintain liver fat at healthy levels which is below 5 percent. Even a moderate increase in this level can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases. Make sure that your junk food should not be one-fifth of the calories that you consume in total as it can be really bad for your liver health.