Above all, fat is unhealthy on the stomach. It secretes inflammatory messenger substances and makes you sick. More and more people are suffering from fatty liver, mostly unnoticed – even changing their diet can have major effects.
There is a frightening trend: in Germany, one in four people over the age of 40 is now suffering from fatty liver disease. Ascending trend. In the past, this disease was almost only known from alcoholics. Today it is mostly caused by the so-called metabolic syndrome. This is a combination of being overweight, increased blood sugar levels, blood lipid levels and high blood pressure. Above all, so-called visceral fat, i.e. belly fat, is an important trigger for the development of fatty liver. All of these problems are caused by an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle.
If the body is constantly supplied with more energy than it can consume through nutrition, it will start to store it at some point. Unfortunately not only in adipose tissue – but also in the liver. The development of fatty liver often goes unnoticed for a long time. There are hardly any symptoms. Often those affected only feel an unspecific exhaustion and tiredness. Sometimes they also notice a slight feeling of pressure or fullness in the right upper abdomen. A diagnosis is therefore often made very late – usually triggered by abnormal values in the blood count and an ultrasound examination.
If left untreated, fatty liver can cause inflammation and scarring of the organ. Diseases like diabetes are the result. You are much more likely to die of cardiovascular disease. And an inflamed fatty liver also tends to develop tumors. Overall, experts now assume that around 70 percent of all chronic diseases such as high blood pressure or vascular calcification are caused by poor nutrition.
What’s the best diet?
Hence the important question: What do you have to eat in order to best fight the dangerous belly fat and heal the liver? According to a study by an Israeli research team, reducing liver fat is of central importance for success. The study, published in the magazine “”, looked at different types of body fat using MRI. They also observed which foods were most likely to lose weight.
According to researchers from Ben-Gurion University in Negev, the low-carbohydrate Mediterranean diet was most effective. It is also clearly superior to a diet in which fat is avoided. The weight loss was roughly the same for both. But the Mediterranean diet reduced the fat around the liver, pancreas and heart the most. The researchers found an astonishing 30 percent less fat on the liver within 18 months. Overall, the test subjects’ health also improved significantly. Iris Shai, who led the investigation, says, “A healthy diet and accompanying moderate weight loss have a more dramatic impact on dangerous body fat than previously thought.”
A Mediterranean diet is characterized by the consumption of mainly high-quality olive oil, lots of fish with healthy omega-3 fatty acids, lots of vegetables and fruits and the very rare consumption of meat. Particular importance is assigned to olive oil with its healthy oleic acids. But only if you eat it generously. Because in order to achieve a positive effect, one should consume about 50 grams of olive oil per day.
