WORLD LIVER DAY 2022: A liver in a human body plays a crucial role in digestion and has many necessary functionalities that are unknown to most people. From producing bile to carrying away waste and breaking down fats in the small intestine during digestion, a liver performs many roles. Other than this, a liver is also responsible for the production of proteins for blood plasma, conversion of glucose into glycogen (can later be retransformed into glucose to produce energy), amino acid regulation and more.
While these functions outline the importance of liver in our body, having diabetes can cause hindrance. If one has diabetes, they might need to take extra care of their liver in order to make sure that it’s healthy and away from liver cirrhosis or scarring.
Diabetes is the second leading reason for liver failure and transplants in India. Type 2 diabetes causes the body to become resistant to insulin, which increases the blood sugar to abnormally high levels. Liver diseases do not show symptoms until it’s too late. Hence, it is important for us to eat healthy food and regularly go for full body checkups to eliminate the chances of any fatal disease.
As per Dr. Roy Patankar, Gastroenterologist and Director of Zen Multispeciality Hospital in Mumbai, diabetes and obesity will not only lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) wherein excess fat builds up in the liver but also, a more severe form of NAFLD, which is known as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), reported Hindustan Times. Here, the liver fat triggers inflammation that creates scar tissue causing cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease over a period of time.
Hence, one will need a liver transplant. He further said that if you’ve ever had NAFLD, you are at a higher risk of having heart diseases, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol or other metabolic syndromes.
As a liver is susceptible to such risky diseases and failure, here are some ways to keep it healthy and functioning:
- Physical activity such as swimming, cycling, yoga or going to the gym.
- Reduce sodium and caffeine intake to keep your blood pressure in check.
- Colas, sodas, carbonated drinks, sweets, fruit juices, bakery items and candies can cause liver disease and other mentioned metabolic syndromes due to the same. Hence, it is important for us to limit the intake of these items.
- Eat at regular intervals and monitor the quantity.
- Exercise every day for half an hour and include whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet.
- Manage blood sugar level by eating the right foods and avoiding junk or processed food.
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