fast food really is bad, especially for your liver
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"when you have one in five children who are obese, this is a serious concern," says dr. keyur patel, staff hepatologist at the university health network’s toronto centre for liver disease. getty
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how often do you line up for coffee and doughnuts in the morning or head to the drive-thru window for a quick and easy dinner?
that fast-food habit could be setting you up for the potentially deadly build-up of fat in your liver — a condition called non-2022年世界杯预选赛阿根廷 liver disease (nafld) — that many experts say is now an emerging epidemic. an estimated one-quarter of canadians over age 20 have this condition, according to a 2020 study in cmaj open, which can lead to scarring, liver cancer or liver failure.
while previous research has linked fast food consumption to obesity and diabetes, a new study out of the university of southern california (usc) in los angeles has shown the negative impact of eating fast food on liver health in particular.
the study, published in clinical gastroenterology and hepatology, analyzed the most recent data from the 2017 to 2018 national health and nutrition examination survey, the largest annual nutritional survey in the u.s. fast food was defined as meals, including pizza, from either a drive-thru restaurant or one without wait staff.
researchers looked at the fatty liver measurements included in the survey of about 4,000 adults and compared them to their fast-food consumption. of the 4,000, 52 per cent ate some fast food, with 29 per cent of them eating one-fifth or more daily calories from fast food — only this group showed a rise in liver fat levels.
“people have this idea that alcohol is the only thing that damages the liver, and ‘hey, if i don’t drink alcohol, i can’t have liver damage,’ but that’s not true,” says dr. ani kardashian, lead author of the study and hepatologist with keck medicine of usc. “all those things that can happen if you drink alcohol can also happen if you are eating unhealthy food and putting these really bad ingredients into your body.”
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“a true epidemic”
dr. keyur patel, staff hepatologist at the university health network’s toronto centre for liver disease, says the study results aren’t surprising and the grim situation is similar in canada where fatty liver disease is also “a true epidemic.” it’s now one of the main reasons people are on the wait list for a liver transplant.
part of what makes this research so compelling is its connection to obesity and diabetes. researchers discovered that people with either of those diseases who consumed 20 per cent or more of their daily calories from fast food had severely elevated levels of fat in their liver compared to those who consumed less or no fast food at all.
“the rise of fatty liver disease parallels the rise in obesity and the increase in prevalence of type 2 diabetes, which are the two major risk factors,” patel says. all three of these serious health issues are related to the food environment and lack of physical activity.
what is it exactly that makes fast food so unhealthy?
“it’s the certain types of fats, those bad fats like trans fats and the saturated fats as well as the processed sugars. all of those are converted into fat that actually can deposit or build up in the liver,” kardashian says. “if they also have insulin resistance with diabetes and they’re eating a lot of sugar, that also can lead to bad fat building up and being produced by the body.”
she’s also seeing a lot more fatty liver in adolescents, and men and women in their 20s and 30s — some with diabetes and most with obesity. it’s a trend that, she says, has a lot to do with our culture of getting food fast, as well as great tasting and all the unhealthy foods that taste so good that are available to us.
a silent killer
also contributing to the seriousness of fatty liver disease is that there are no symptoms — no telltale signs that fat levels in the liver are rising, making it a silent killer. even if you’re lean and have a normal body mass index (bmi), a diet rich in sugars and fats can put you at risk. most people receive a diagnosis when they’re having a routine checkup and they’re asking about other possible conditions. liver function tests and ultrasound help to identify the condition.
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the good news is that if it’s caught in the early stages, fatty liver disease can be reversed with lifestyle changes, including weight loss with increased physical activity and better food choices.
“it’s really hard to avoid fast foods, they’re at every single corner of every street, but the message here for patients is to eat at home more often and really prioritize healthy foods,” says kardashian, adding that cutting back to once a week instead of daily would be a start. the occasional fast food “fix” is not going to hurt your health. (she says she enjoyed a meal from in-n-out burger on a recent trip herself.)
but she is flagging the need for larger policy changes to make it easier to get access to healthier and affordable foods.
patel agrees, also pointing to rising prices for vegetables, fruits, whole grains and poultry, which make it difficult to choose healthy food options, as well as food addiction, where people reach for items high in fat and sugar, especially during the pandemic.
“we reach for things that make us feel better and the pleasure sensors in the brain are stimulated by sugar,” he says. “the food industry has us addicted to either sugar or salt.”
how to protect your liver
patel recommends making better dietary choices as outlined in canada’s food guide and boosting activity. if you’re carrying extra pounds, losing five to 10 per cent of your weight over a period of months will help reduce the fat in the liver and how sugars are processed. seeing your doctor for an annual health checkup and discussing your diet is also recommended.
as for how health-care providers can help, kardashian recommends counselling patients about the negative effects of eating unhealthy foods and fast foods on the liver. patel has made that a little easier by forming a network with other hepatologists across canada to look at increasing knowledge among patients and health-care providers to create awareness about non-2022年世界杯预选赛阿根廷 liver disease
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“it is not just liver disease or cardiovascular disease,” he says. “this is societal. when you have one in five children who are obese, this is a serious concern. you end up with diabetes in your thirties and forties and your lifespan is significantly shortened at that point.”
karen hawthorne is a toronto-based writer.
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