Health Tips - NAFLD is Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.
NAFLD is Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.
It begins slowly, as fat accumulation in the liver. Then it becomes complicated
by inflammation. Then liver scar tissue develops. Beyond that, the disease can
play out in a number of different ways, as I mentioned above -- all of them
potentially deadly.
Fatty liver disease was thought to be strictly a disease of alcoholism for most
of the 20th century. But when obesity was first recognized as a mounting
problem in the 1970s, doctors began to make the obesity/FLD connection and
eventually added the designation of "nonalcoholic."
This is the true epidemic behind the obesity "epidemic."
In a recent study, researchers tested vitamin E and metformin (a diabetes drug)
on patients with NAFLD. Neither the drug nor the vitamin supplement had much
effect.
Dr. Spreen sent me that study along with this note: "The nutrient CURE for non-alcoholic fatty liver has
been known for over 80 years, and it was discovered during conventional
diabetes research! So, anyone wanting to study something really legitimate
along this line could have done a 10-second Medline search and come up with the
prime nutrient candidate (which is a member of the B-complex family, not
E)."
That B-family "prime nutrient candidate" is choline.
One of the best sources of choline is egg yolks. And, of course, for many
years, mainstream nutritionists went mad and foolishly equated eggs with poison
because they contained cholesterol. So while millions of people avoided eggs
for a couple of decades, quite a few people became obese -- ironically avoiding
the very food that could help curb obesity-driven NAFLD.
Along with that vitamin E study, Dr. Spreen included a recent article published
by the Weston A. Price Foundation. In the article, Chris Masterjohn calls NAFLD
an epidemic of nutritional imbalance.
He writes: "It is likely caused by the overabundance of calorie-rich,
nutrient-poor refined foods and the banishment of traditional sources of
choline like liver and egg yolks from the modern American menu."
In addition to reducing NAFLD risk, choline also checks the rise of
homocysteine (the amino acid that promotes artery plaque buildup), facilitates
memory storage, muscle control, and kidney function, prevents fatigue and
insomnia, and helps maintain healthy cell membranes.
Your multivitamin may contain choline -- many do -- but chances are the dose
doesn't approach the recommended adequate intake of 425 mg per day for women
and 550 mg per day for men.
But increasing your intake of choline is simple. Just eat more foods that
contain the vitamin.
In addition to eggs and liver, choline is also found in wheat germ, cod,
salmon, broccoli, bacon, shrimp, pistachios, Brussels sprouts, and flaxseed.
Much less simple, but just as important, is the required change in eating
habits -- cutting back on calorie-rich, nutrient-poor refined foods.