Fatty Liver – What Are The Causes And Symptoms?

Fatty liver is a condition that occurs when there is an accumulation of fat cells in the liver. Fatty liver is also called steatosis. This condition has large vacuoles of triglyceride fat that accumulates in the liver.

The chief causes for fatty liver are alcohol consumption, obesity and other problems associated with fat metabolism.

Fatty liver is often caused by the metabolic syndrome; which is a combination of several factors such as high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and dyslipidemia or may be attributed to only one or more of those factors as well.

Rather than eating fatty foods, this condition is caused by the transfer of fat from other parts of the body to the liver or an excess of extraction of fat presented to the liver from the intestine, though eating high fat foods may also be a cause. The liver seems to slow down in the process of breaking down and removing fat.

Fatty liver could also be caused by certain toxins entering the system, such as tetrachloride and yellow phosphorus.

Cushing’s syndrome, or hypercortisolism, is a hormonal disorder, which happens due to abnormally high circulating levels of certain hormones, could be another cause of fatty liver. Hyperlipidemia or the presence of raised or abnormal levels of lipids and/or lipoproteins in the blood is another possible cause of fatty liver.

Fatty liver can be very insidious in that it is difficult to detect because it is usually without symptoms of visible signs of any kind. Though potentially very dangerous, fatty liver is something that many people live, without being aware of having the problem. This is because it may not have any overt symptoms and more particularly there are not actual pains or discomforts caused by this that may cause one to get treatment for it.

There may be certain symptoms of this disorder such as diabetes, high cholesterol, or immune system problems.

Additionally some -people may experience more frequently, problems such as rashes or colds or certain allergies. There can be other seemingly inconsequential problems that occur which may be caused by fatty liver, such as dizziness, bad breath, coated tongue, etc.

Some people may also feel tiredness or may have circles around the eyes, headaches, or a feeling of being bloated. However, these are innocuous in themselves and may not alert one to the fact that they could be caused by a fatty liver.