How To Treat Fatty Liver?

When a person is diagnosed with fatty liver, they need to improve their eating habits and adopt an overall healthy lifestyle. Otherwise, if you maintain excesses and a diet rich in fat, sugars and foods with little nutritional value, as well as a consumption of alcoholic beverages, you could worsen your situation.

Since the liver is the organ in charge of performing several important functions, such as processing, breaking down and balancing the blood, in addition to creating nutrients and metabolizing medications, it is important to take care of certain lifestyle habits so that it is healthy and performs its functions normally.

In summary, the liver has multiple functions, among which the following can be highlighted:

• Bilirubin clearance.
• Drug metabolism.
• Regulation of amino acids in the blood.
• Regulation of blood coagulation.
• Processing the hemoglobin for the use of its iron content.
• Creation of certain proteins for the blood plasma, cholesterol and special proteins for the body.

Obviously, a malfunction of the liver implies health problems. Therefore, it is essential to take care of certain habits to prevent it from being damaged and stop performing its functions correctly, thus being able to favor the appearance of major complications.

Fatty liver treatment

Fatty liver is a disease that can be caused by various factors, among which, the excesses in the diet generally stand out. In fact, the predominance of processed foods, junk, carbonated and alcoholic beverages in the daily diet is one of the main risk factors associated with this disease.

According to the MSD Manual, when prescribing a treatment, it is essential to “distinguish fatty liver secondary to pregnancy or alcoholic liver disease from that presenting without these associated conditions (non-alcoholic fatty liver). Acute nonalcoholic fatty liver includes a simple adipose infiltrate (benign condition) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a less frequent but more important variety ”.

Therefore only a doctor can indicate what is best to treat fatty liver once the case has been studied, and guide the relevant medications. However, when making additional lifestyle recommendations, you may instruct the patient to improve their eating habits. 

Is it advisable to drink milk thistle infusion?

In the popular sphere, several remedies have been proposed, such as milk thistle infusion, to treat fatty liver. It is considered that, thanks to the cleansing and diuretic properties of plants, it could support the expulsion of waste and fat deposits through the urine and thus improve health.

However, the use of natural remedies, including the aforementioned infusion, is not yet endorsed by doctors, since it is necessary to continue carrying out studies to determine to what extent they could be adequate. 

According to a study, the treatment based on the herb milk thistle (Silybum marianum), given the antioxidant properties of the plant, could help regenerate liver tissues and neutralize free radicals. However, the researchers comment that it is necessary to continue delving into this topic and evaluate its usefulness in greater detail in other cases and scenarios.

One of the flavonoids of this plant that have been studied is silymarin, which is present in milk thistle. It is considered that it can help reduce inflammation of the liver and, in general, help treat fatty liver since this substance would not allow cytokines to be released, which are those that exacerbate liver inflammation.

To date, milk thistle (in infusion, capsules or any other presentation) is not considered a recommended remedy to treat issues such as fatty liver. Therefore, the most appropriate thing is to follow the doctor’s instructions and avoid making drastic changes in lifestyle without discussing it with the professional beforehand.