Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease may be harmless or life-threatening

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a term used to describe the accumulation of fat in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol. It is a common disease and, causes no symptoms and signs and no complications for most of the people.In some people who have this disease, the fat that gathers can cause inflammation and scarring in the liver. The more serious form of this disease is sometimes called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Symptoms:

This disease normally does not cause any signs and symptoms. But when it causes symptoms they may be:

• Fatigue

• Pain in the upper right abdomen

• Weight loss

Causes:

It occurs when your liver has problem breaking down fats, and this causes fat to build up in your liver tissue. Doctors are not sure what causes this. The extensive range of diseases and conditions associated to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is very variant and this is very difficult to pinpoint any one cause.

Types:

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease can take many forms — from harmless to life-threatening and these are:

• Nonalcoholic fatty liver. It's not normal for fat to build up in your liver, but it won't perforceably hurt you. It can cause excess liver fat, but no difficulty. This condition is thought to be very common.

• Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. In a small number of people with fatty liver, it causes inflammation in the liver. This can damage the liver's ability to function and lead to complications.

• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-associated cirrhosis. Liver inflammation develops scarring of the liver tissue. With time, scarring can become very severe and hence the liver may not function adequately.

Risk factors:

A wide range of conditions and disease can increase your risk and the factors are:

• Certain medications

• Gastric bypass surgery

• High cholesterol

• High standards of triglycerides in the blood

• Malnutrition

• Metabolic syndrome

• Obesity

• Rapid weight loss

• Toxins and chemicals, such as pesticides

• Type 2 diabetes

• Wilson's disease

Treatment:

No standard treatment for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease exists. Instead, doctors work to treat the risk factors that are associated with the liver and the disease. For instance, if you're obese, the doctor can help you to lose weigh through exercise, diet and in some cases, medications and surgery. If a drug causes your fatty liver disease, the doctor may try to switch you to a different medication.