A diet high in processed foods, junk food, refined bakery goods and sugar is hard on your liver, robbing it of the nutrients necessary to perform digestive functions, hormone regulation and the breakdown of toxins in the bloodstream. Risk factors for fatty liver disease include obesity, type 2 diabetes and chronic alcohol abuse. Possible complications include progression to hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver failure. Partner with a health-care professional to improve the health of your liver by avoiding alcohol, unnecessary medications and certain foods.
Saturated Fat
Decrease the amount of fat from animal sources in your diet. Your physician or dietitian may ask you to eat fewer foods that contain saturated fat, including beef, pork, whole-fat milk and cheese, butter, lard, coconut or palm oil, solid shortenings and stick margarine. A typical Western diet is high in these fats. M. Allman and colleagues at Louisiana State University fed mice a Western diet or a purified controlled diet for three weeks before subjecting them to a chemical that causes liver damage. The mice who ate the Western diet were found to have more than twice as many dead liver cells and took considerably longer to heal than the controls. The study was published in the March 2010 "Journal of Gastroenterology."
Trans Fats
Rooting trans fats out of your diet can be tricky. Reading labels is essential, but zero trans fats does not mean the absence of these man-made fats. The FDA allows foods with less that half a gram of trans fats per serving to list zero on the label, but several serving sizes could result in a considerable intake. Trans fats are most likely in foods made with hydrogenated oils; suspect any that have a long shelf life. Packaged cookies, cakes, chips, crackers, icings, pies, doughnuts, microwave popcorn, canned biscuits and coffee creamers usually contain trans fats, as do deep fried take-out foods. The University of Maryland Medical Center states that trans fats not only raise bad cholesterol in the bloodstream, but also lower good cholesterol.
Fructose
Fructose is a concentrated sweetener in juices and processed foods containing high fructose corn syrup. It is found in smaller amounts in healthy foods, like apples. Researcher S. Sullivan, of Washington University School of Medicine, conducted a review of studies investigating the effects of diet on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The findings, published in the March 2010 "Current Opinion in Gastroenterology," include evidence that short-term binging on high-calorie foods increases fatty deposits in the liver, while short-term, low-calorie dieting reduces fatty deposits, whether or not you lose much weight. The review also noted that a worsening of fatty liver disease is associated with high dietary intakes of fructose, saturated fats and trans fats, independent of the number of calories consumed.
