One of the many big reasons to take it seriously

Having a fatty liver puts your brain at a significant risk of accelerating aging.

That is, of course, only if you do nothing about it.

I know this because I’ve spent the last two and a half years immersing myself in all things fatty liver disease, including publishing both a book and online course on the topic, as well as privately counseling a growing number of clients on using nutrition to help reverse the condition.

In my previous writing for Foodguides, I explored the role of specific supplements and phytonutrients in fighting back against a fatty liver. I have also done a deep dive into the reasons why fat gets stored in your liver in the first place. 

The goal of today’s article takes a slightly different form and is presented more so as a “call to action”.

You’ve just been diagnosed with a fatty liver; WHY should you be compelled to act promptly on that diagnosis?

I’m about to state my case using an evidence-based argument from the perspective of brain and cognitive health.

Let’s get to the good stuff.

A Brief Primer On Fatty Liver

Estimates suggest that around 3 in 10 adults globally have a fatty liver, with the condition more likely in men than it is in women and often diagnosed younger in men than it is in women as well.

Looking at the US specifically, the prevalence of fatty liver disease may be as high as 38% - with researchers estimating the condition is 50% more common than it was 30 years ago.

Those living with type 2 diabetes are at even greater risk, with estimates suggesting up to 7 in 10 people living with type 2 also have a fatty liver – the combination of which is increasingly predictive of poor long-term health outcomes.

Fatty liver disease is also on the rise in adolescents and young adults ( <29).

An increase in earlier diagnosis of any condition is always a concern, but an early diagnosis of fatty liver may pose even more complications.

A recently published study out of JAMA determined that a fatty liver diagnosis at an age younger than 45 increases one’s risk of specific already prevalent cancers like liver, lung, and colorectal by nearly 18%.

This is a concerning statistic, but again, it can surely be heavily mitigated by proactive changes in one’s diet, lifestyle, and supplemental approach.

It’s now time to get to the heart of the matter.

Or perhaps more aptly, the brain.

The Brain X Liver Connection

The health of the human brain and liver are codependent on each other on more levels than you might think.

Let’s use the example of fatigue, which is the most common “symptom” of fatty liver disease, to demonstrate this point.

It is quite well characterized that impaired gut-brain communication (think dysbiosis) and excessive inflammation both play a role in fatigue and fatty liver disease.

It’s equally true that supplements like omega-3 fatty acids and probiotics, which influence brain health in multiple capacities, are also among the most effective and well-studied complementary supplements in the management of fatty liver disease.

Let’s dig a little deeper.

The 2023 Lancet Study

In a large prospective study ( >400,000 participants followed over nine years), liver fibrosis [scarring] showed significant associations with multiple aspects of cognitive health

These included:

• Reasoning
• Working memory
• Visual memory
• Prospective memory
• Executive function
• Processing speed

Even more, brain imaging analysis revealed that numerous regions of the brain were smaller in people with liver fibrosis.

These include the:

• Hippocampus
• Thalamus
• Cerebellum
• Brain Stem

Let’s keep a few things in mind.

The Liver Inflammation Connection

Inflammation is one of the four major metabolic pillars of fatty liver disease. It becomes increasingly relevant when we contemplate the risk of progressing from an early-stage fatty liver diagnosis to more severe forms of the condition characterized by fibrosis.

CRP, a prominent marker of bodily inflammation, is significantly higher in adults with liver fibrosis and mediates the influence of fibrosis on poor cognitive health and brain volume loss.

What This Means For You

Whether recently or otherwise, if you’ve been diagnosed with a fatty liver, there are some very important messages that I want you to take from today’s post.

1. The worse your liver health gets, the worse your brain health will get.
2. The worse the inflammation gets, the worse both get.
3. Your liver health does not need to get worse - you can stop the progression of fatty liver disease, in part, by consuming a more anti-inflammatory diet. You should begin doing so as promptly as possible upon diagnosis of fatty liver disease.

More to Come

It’s only right that my next piece of content focuses on the benefits of consuming a liver-friendly anti-inflammatory diet, and it will.

For now, I want you to explore a concept called the Dietary Inflammatory Index and know that broadly speaking, eating a more Mediterranean-style diet is the easiest way to make your diet more anti-inflammatory without knowing anything about what it means for a food to be anti-inflammatory.

I hope today’s post helped; keep your eyes open for the next one.

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2. _{Lin, Y., Feng, X., Cao, X., Miao, R., Sun, Y., Li, R., Ye, J., & Zhong, B. (2022). Age patterns of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease incidence: heterogeneous associations with metabolic changes. Diabetology & metabolic syndrome, 14(1), 181. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13098-022-00930-w} 
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4. _{Younossi, Z. M., & Henry, L. (2024). Understanding the Burden of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Time for Action. Diabetes spectrum : a publication of the American Diabetes Association, 37(1), 9–19. https://doi.org/10.2337/dsi23-0010}