9 Things That Can Hurt Your Liver - Article Health

What causes liver disease?
Your liver is the largest organ in your body, and it has some equally big responsibilities: filtering the body’s blood, processing nutrients, helping to fight infection, producing proteins you need for blood clotting, and much more. But all these jobs mean your liver is vulnerable to assault on multiple fronts. If it becomes damaged, scarring (cirrhosis) can occur, which can eventually cause liver failure or cancer.

Obesity
Obesity is thought to play a role in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which affects between 80 and 100 million people in the United States and "will soon be the number-one reason for liver transplantation in the U.S.," says David Bernstein, MD, chief of hepatology at Northwell Health in Manhasset, New York. It happens when too much fat gets stored in liver cells. While experts don’t know exactly what causes NAFLD, the condition is also linked to metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and high triglyceride levels, in addition to obesity.

Soda
Sugar-laden sodas are a notorious cause of weight gain, so it’s not surprising that they’ve also been linked to liver damage. One recent study published in The Journal of Hepatology found that people who drank one or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day had higher markers of fatty liver disease than those who didn’t drink any sugary drinks, or who opted for diet varieties (although this doesn’t mean that diet sodas are a healthy choice). This risk was highest among people who were already obese or overweight. And an earlier study found that people who consumed two sugary drinks a day for six months showed signs of fatty liver disease.


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