Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD): Top 5 Causes You Must Know

Fatty liver refers to a condition where excess fat builds up in your liver. When over 5-10% of the liver’s weight is fat, it means you are suffering from fatty liver. It slows down your body metabolism and prevents it from losing weight. Thankfully, this condition is reversible and only needs a few lifestyle modifications for the cure. Fatty liver is of two types; the non-alcoholic fatty liver and alcoholic fatty liver. The former is caused due to reasons other than alcohol consumption and the latter is caused due to excessive alcohol intake. In this article, we shall discuss the causes of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The causes of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have not been explored properly yet. Experts say that it occurs mainly when the body produces too much fat and is incapable of processing it. Some studies suggest that underlying health conditions increase your risk of developing a non-alcoholic fatty liver.

Here, we shall discuss the top 5 causes of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Take a look.

1. Obesity

Obesity is one of the most important causes of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. 70% of the obese people suffer from this condition due to obesity. The fatty liver disease is known to affect your body’s ability to process fat and lose weight. As a result, you continue to put on weight and develop the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This usually happens with people who consume a high-fat diet and do not exercise.

1. Insulin resistance

There seems to be an important link between NAFD and insulin resistance. Insulin helps you muscles and tissues get glucose from the blood for energy. It also helps the liver store excess glucose. When a person suffers from insulin resistance, his/her body does not respond to insulin the way it should. As a result, excess fat gets stored in the liver leading to inflammation and scarring.

1. Metabolic syndrome

Having metabolic syndrome or any of its traits is also believed to be a cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It refers to a group of conditions or traits associated with obesity. People suffering from this condition are likely to suffer from heart diseases and type-2 diabetes. Doctors say that a person suffering from the metabolic syndrome may have any three of the following:

Large waist size

High triglycerides levels in the blood

High blood glucose levels

High blood pressure

Low HDL cholesterol levels

1. Diabetes

Due to insulin resistance, the pancreas may start excreting more insulin to make up for the deficiency. But over time, it may start producing lesser amounts. As a result, excess sugar gets accumulated in the blood. This results in diabetes. Type-2 diabetes is believed to be one of the most important causes of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

1. Excess fat in the blood

High levels of fat, triglycerides and bad cholesterol in the blood is also an important cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. When the body becomes insulin resistant, the liver starts taking fatty acids from the blood which has them in abundance. As a result, this fat starts accumulating in the liver as storage fat. It also kills the ability of the liver to eliminate excess fat from the body. Later, this develops into the fatty liver disease.