If your physician has warned you that you may have potential liver problems, it probably means your liver currently functions well, but that you're developing a condition that could damage it in the future. For example, up to one-fifth of Americans may suffer from fatty liver disease, a condition that usually isn't dangerous, but can eventually lead to liver damage in some people, according to the U.S. Veterans Administration. Your diet may help you avoid potential liver problems.
Causes
It's not clear what causes fatty liver disease, but people who suffer from obesity and diabetes have a high rate of the disorder, according to the Veterans Administration. It's also possible to develop liver problems from some other condition, such as hepatitis, a viral infection of the liver, or cirrhosis, a liver-based reaction to drinking too much alcohol.
Research
Although medical science hasn't conclusively proven a connection, at least one research study indicates that eating a diet made up mainly of foods that are high on the glycemic index may promote liver problems, including fatty liver disease. Foods that are rated high on the glycemic index raise your blood sugar much faster than foods rated low on the index. The research, conducted in mice by clinicians at Children's Hospital Boston, looked at high- and low-glycemic diets in mice, and concluded that the high-glycemic diet promoted fatty liver disease in mice while the low-glycemic prevented it.
Effects
It's not clear whether those research findings will translate into humans, according to the study, which was published in September 2007 in the journal Obesity. But they suggest that a diet low in simple carbohydrates like white bread and table sugar might help reverse fatty liver disease and perhaps other potential liver problems. The researchers are testing the hypothesis in overweight children to see if a low-glycemic index diet can reverse fatty liver in those children.
Prevention/Solution
If you and your doctor decide you should follow a low-glycemic index diet in an attempt to ward off potential liver problems, you'll need to know where foods fall on that index. But generally, foods made up of simple carbohydrates and sugar, such as corn flakes, will rate high on the index, while foods made up of complex carbohydrates and little sugar, such as many non-starchy vegetables, will rate low on the index.
Considerations
Medical science still hasn't proven the link between liver disease and a low-glycemic index diet, and so it may be premature for you to adopt that approach. The American Liver Foundation recommends eating a healthy diet, maintaining a normal weight, exercising and limiting alcohol as ways to protect your liver.
