A woman diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in her thirties has revealed the steps she is taking to try and reverse the disease—and they’re all related to her diet.
NAFLD is caused by a build-up of fat in the liver, and is usually diagnosed in people who are overweight or obese.
However, while liver disease is usually associated with heavy drinking, excessive alcohol consumption is not a cause for NAFLD. It is primarily connected to lifestyle factors—and that means it can be reversed.
Niki Nash, 36, from Swansea in Wales, posted a video to her TikTok account @nikkin1988, listing the foods she is cutting out in the hopes of getting her liver back to full health.
She told her 27,700 followers: ‘Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is just a build up of fat in your liver.
‘It’s nothing to do with alcohol. Hence, by the name, however, limiting or reducing alcohol completely will help.
‘This is usually found in people who are overweight to obese…however, I’m not classed as overweight or obese. Mine is all to do with my diet.
‘So to reverse the condition, you need to limit salt, you need to limit fat, such as processed food, takeaways, McDonald’s, etc., and eliminate sugar from your diet as much as possible.
‘This is probably my biggest factor of why I’ve got the disease I am addicted to sugar.’
Alongside making vital changes to her diet, she has taken up 30 minutes of daily exercise, which she said ‘will significantly increase the chances of it being reversed’.
Her final tip for other people with NAFLD was to increase their fruit and vegetable intake—something which Chinese researchers previously found can help reverse the condition.
In the video she added: ‘There isn’t any medication that you can take to help. Either, it’s just all through a diet, health and lifestyle.’
Replying to one follower, she said that she was diagnosed after having a liver function test (LFT) and ultrasound, and that she also has an autoimmune condition which affects the organ.
While early stage NAFLD does not usually cause any harm, it can lead to serious liver damage, including cirrhosis if it gets worse.
Cirrhosis – when the organ is scarred and permanently damaged – can be life threatening.
After posting the video, she received lots of comments from social media users going through similar experiences.
One user said: ‘I’ve just been told I’ve got a fatty liver when investigating something else.
‘I blame my lack of inactivity and diet since switching to working from home. I just switched my diet up and now waiting…’
The 36-year-old shared which foods she’s cutting out from her diet to reverse her NAFLD
Another user commented: ‘I have NAFLD not been told what stage it is. Mine was incidental finding on an ultrasound scan. I’ve done lifestyle changes like you guys.’
Meanwhile a third wrote: ‘I’m due a scan this weekend. I’ve lost nearly six stone since I was told, fingers crossed this helps.’
A fourth user said: ‘I’m eating loads of veg, salad, fruit, chicken, tuna and wholemeal bread, [and] sugar free jelly.
‘I’m three stone down since [December] awaiting a date my next scan, hopefully before [December] again.’
They are among millions of people in the UK living with the condition in its early stages, which affects one in five people.
Early signs include a dull or aching pain in the top right side of the tummy, extreme tiredness, unexplained weight loss and weakness.
And cirrhosis can cause more severe symptoms such as jaundice – the yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes.
Other signs of the late stage of the condition are itchy skin as well as swelling in the legs, ankles, feet or tummy.
It comes after a recent study suggested liver cancer cases will double globally by 2050
The condition is often diagnosed after a blood test called a liver function test, but they don’t always pick up NAFLD.
It may also be spotted during an ultrasound.
If you’ve been diagnosed with NAFLD, further tests may be needed to determine which stage you have.
This can be a special blood test or having another type of ultrasound scan such as a Fibroscan.
It follows a recent study that revealed the proportion of liver cancers linked to NAFLD also known as MASH is expected to more than double, from 5 per cent in 2022 to 11 per cent in 2050.
Meanwhile the number of cases caused the most common cause of the deadly disease—the hepatitis B virus—are set to decline.
Concerningly the researchers predicted that new liver cancer cases worldwide will jump from 870,000 in 2022 to 1.52million by 2050.
And annual deaths from the disease are set to rise from 760,000 to 1.37million over the same period.