Fatty Liver

Also known as: fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatic steatosis.

What is fatty liver?

Many problems that arise with the liver over time are related to alcohol abuse. In the absence of alcohol abuse, when more than 5 percent of a person’s liver mass develops increased fat accumulation, this is known as fatty liver disease.
 

What causes fatty liver?

As the name suggests, fatty liver disease becomes a problem due to the accumulation of fat in the liver. This may be due to diabetes, high levels of fat in the bloodstream, obesity and other problems.
 

What are the symptoms of fatty liver?

Fatty liver often does not have symptoms until it reaches an advanced stage. Abdominal pain, fatigue, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes) and abdominal swelling are possible symptoms.
 

What are fatty liver care options?

Weight loss is the primary treatment recommendation to avoid the potential complications related to fatty liver disease. Probiotics have been thought to possibly slow the progress of inflammation in the liver arising from fatty accumulation to that of scarring (fibrosis). The liver damage created by fatty accumulation in the liver can at times become severe enough that liver transplantation needs to be considered.


 

Reviewed by: Shifra A Koyfman, MD

This page was last updated on: March 20, 2019 04:06 PM