According to American Liver Foundation, there are around 15 to 20 percent of Americans with fatty liver. Among these fatty liver patients, two percent of them are diagnosed with Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis. It is often a silent liver disease resembling the alcoholic liver disease but, it occurs in non-alcoholics or in people who consume little alcohol (less than 25ml/day, as per the standards).
What is Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH)?
It is a silent liver disease caused by the accumulation of fat in the liver, if the fat in the liver becomes more than ten percent of the liver’s total weight then it is called fatty liver. If this fatty liver occurs in people who do not drink alcohol or who drink very little alcohol then it is called Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver (NAFLD). Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis is an advanced stage of NAFLD causing inflammation and scarring in the liver. This process can stop on its own, and in some cases it can be reversed without any special therapy.
Symptoms of Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis
- In general there are very few or no symptoms for Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis
- Patients can hardly identify the symptoms caused by NASH, as there progression takes years
- If the NASH advances then, the patients can feel fatigue, weakness and unknown weight loss
- Untreated NASH can lead to hardened and seriously scarred liver resulting in dysfunction
Causes of NASH
The exact cause for NASH is yet to be found, It often occurs in middle aged overweight or obese people. According to the doctors, NASH is more likely to occur in individuals who have diabetes or high blood cholesterol or obese. However, it might also occur in people who does not have any of the above.
Some of the below reasons can be the underlying cause for NASH
- Insulin resistance
- Release of cytokines (toxic inflammatory proteins) by fat cells
- Oxidative stress inside liver cells, simply called as deterioration of cells
