The data then will read is purely informative. I'm no doctor or nurse. If you are sick you should follow the advice of your health care professional. If you think you are ill you should consult your health care professional. Do not change or stop your treatment, if you have no precise indications of the healthcare professional who is treating your illness.
What is fatty liver? The liver is an organ with
multiple functions, one of which is to create fatty acids (fat) from certain
substances. In
this case, the hepatocytes (functional cells of the liver) "trap" those
substances and converts them into fat, fat that is shed into bloodstream and then stored in adipocytes (fat
cells of the body). The reason of this function is to rid the body of compounds which at
certain concentrations are detrimental to the organism.
What are the active
compounds of creating fatty acids by the liver? they are basically three:
highly glycemic foods (sugar, flour ...), alcohol and fructose.
Normally the liver has the
capacity to convert these compounds to fat efficiently and enough and, above all,
to expel the fat that manufactures into the blood, but there are times that
hepatocytes are overwhelmed and can not expel the fat they made quickly enough, and
then comes the problem: fatty liver.
Why hepatocytes are
overwhelmed? There are two major reasons for this:
- Excess intake of these compounds.
- Deficit of choline.
Let's see what happens.
- Glycemic food overeating. Do you like the foie gras? Dou know what is it? The foie gras is but the duck or goose liver, but this liver is a very special one, in fact the literal translation of the French is "fatty liver." Yes it is a fatty liver, a diseased liver as the fatty liver of humans that breeders of ducks and geese induce to these animals by overfeeding them with ... Can not you guess? corn and other high glycemic cereals . Well, something similar can occur in humans, although for fatty liver appears from these foods normally must also be a deficit of choline, which we shall discuss later.
- Excessive alcohol intake. Alcohol directly metabolized in fat in the liver. If alcohol intake is very high, hepatocytes can´t shed in bloodstream the excess of fat that produce and they store it.
- Excessive intake of fructose. Fructose is a carbohydrate that has a very good reputation because does not elevated blood glucose and therefore can be taken by diabetics. It also helps to have a good name which is the main component of most fresh fruits (except grapes). Also sucrose (table sugar) is composed of equal parts of glucose and fructose. The danger is that fructose metabolism in the liver is identical to the metabolism of alcohol. Indeed only differs from this in that fructose doesn´t harm the brain, but all other aspects are identical, so that fructose has been identified as the main cause of Non Fatty Liver Disease.
- Finally, we have the Choline. Choline is a B vitamin that has, as one of its main functions, allowing hepatocytes to eject to the bloodstream the fat they generate. It is so important that it has induced fatty liver in mice only by the deprivation of this vitamin.
Well, you think, and what all this has to do with the Low-Carb
Diet? . Well, from my point of view,
much:
- The low-carb diet avoids highly glycemic foods, so those who follow this diet are shielded by this.
- In a strict low-carb diet alcohol is banned or, at best, can be taken from time to time, in a socially way and never systematicly except a glass of red wine (and that is by antioxidants, especially), so we are shielded against alcoholic fatty liver too.
- Those who follow the low-carb diet eat no fruit or at least very glycemic fruit, taking only fruits "berries" style like Granada (by antioxidants, if not, either) and little else. We don´t take sugar or honey (honey is almost entirely fructose, so it should be avoided completely).
- What about choline?. What are the main sources of choline? the better sources of choline are the egg yolk, liver, meat ... that is, those little things so familiar to low-carbers.
In summary, the paleo diet
not only avoids sources leading to fatty liver, but provides the main body of
nutrient (choline) it needs to be able to prevent the
disease.
Curiously, most of the time, when someone is diagnosed with fatty acid, the first thing that is removed from the diet are the eggs and fat, and the first suggestion for this "healthy liver diet" are complex carbohydrates (yes, the type of corn that is given to the ducks) and fruit (full of fructose, as we have seen).
Now that I reread the post,
I think that remains a post about fructose. It will be very
interesting, I assure you.
Sources:
