Inside: Know about fatty liver disorder, how the fatty liver disorder occurs, what are the supplements that can be taken for fatty liver disease and ways to improve it.

The liver is one of the most important and largest organs in the human body. It is an organ that detoxifies the toxins in the body regularly. Improper functioning, overloading, or failure in the liver can lead to various problems in our body. So, it is very important to keep your liver health in check as there are numerous disorders associated with the liver. 

One such very common problem that several people suffer from these days is fatty liver disease. There are many reasons why fatty liver disease occurs but the real issue is conventional medicine doesn't have any treatment for it. 

In this article, I'm going to cover what fatty liver disease is, how it is caused, what supplements are good for fatty liver, and  5 natural supplements you can take to improve it. 

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What is Fatty Liver?

Several people have been told that they have fatty liver disease. But, they do not know exactly what it means. 

Fatty liver disease is actually an accumulation of bad fats in your liver. 

But it is important to know that this is different from alcoholic liver disease. For alcoholic liver disease, alcohol is the main reason for the damage happening to your liver.

However, in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, there are actually other reasons, mainly lifestyle factors, which are responsible for damaging your liver. In this situation, the excess amount of fat in our body gets deposited in the liver. Now, most people think it's the dietary fat that gets deposited in the liver, but in reality, it's the excess carbohydrates that get deposited into the liver in the form of bad fats.  

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Why You Should Be Worried About Fatty Liver Disease?

The reason you should be worried about fatty liver disease is that being affected by the fatty liver disease for the long term can, actually, lead to liver failure.

And the only treatment for that is a liver transplant. Sometimes, fatty liver disease has also been associated with liver cancer on a long-term disease basis. So, that's the reason you should be worried about fatty liver disease and must do something about it.

Furthermore, conventional medicine doesn't have proper medicine available to reverse or improve fatty liver disease. But, there are five supplements that you can take now that can definitely improve and support your fatty liver disease. 

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What is Happening in the Fatty Liver Problem?

Before getting into the treatment or supplements for fatty liver disease,  it's crucial to first understand what is happening in the fatty liver.  There are a few underlying things that are happening in fatty liver disease. 

• The first thing that happens is an accumulation of bad fats in your liver. 
• The second thing which is happening is that there's a lot of inflammation which is happening in your liver. And this inflammation can ultimately lead to the destruction of the liver. 
• The third thing which is happening is that there is increased oxidative stress that again damages your liver. 
• And the last thing is that your liver cells are being continuously destroyed because of this inflammation, oxidative stress.

So these are all the things that can be happening behind the scenes in fatty liver disease. And that's all that we need to prevent in order to heal your liver and cure the fatty liver problem.

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Must-have Supplements for Fatty Liver Disease

Supplements can actually aid the liver to work properly and get rid of the fatty liver problem. Read on to know what supplements are good for fatty liver.

Milk Thistle or Silymarin

The very first supplement which is useful for fatty liver disease is called milk thistle or silymarin. 

Milk thistle is available very easily as a supplement. The active ingredient in milk thistle is actually silymarin, which is very useful for improving several liver diseases. 

Many research studies have shown it to be very protective against liver disease. In fact, for fatty liver disease, silymarin is one of the best supplements.

There was a research study done where more than 400 participants were involved. In the research, the participants were given silymarin on a daily basis. 

After six months of giving that silymarin regularly to those people, they saw an improvement in liver number. Their AST and ALT, which are the liver numbers, improved significantly when they did a biopsy for these people. 

They also saw improvement actually in the liver cells. So liver cells also improved. The ultrasound also showed that the liver was coming back to normal confirming that silymarin is very important.

How does milk thistle work for fatty liver disease?

• One way milk thistle works for fatty liver disease is that it is an antioxidant. It removes the reactive oxygen species and that’s how it reduces oxidative stress on the liver.
• It is also protective for the liver cells. It doesn’t let oxidative stress and inflammation damage your liver cells. So, that's the second way the silymarin or milk thistle helps your fatty liver disease.
• The third way is that it also improves insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is also one more important thing that leads to fatty liver disease. 

And hence, milk thistle or Silymarin can be a great supplement for fatty liver disease and the one you must include to get rid of fatty liver disease.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids

If you do have fatty liver disease, the second supplement is omega-three fatty acids. Omega-three fatty acids especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been shown to be protective of fatty liver disease.

There was again a meta-analysis done of more than 200 people which showed that regular supplementation of good quality omega-three fatty acids reduced the amount of fat deposition in the liver. It is also shown to have improved the liver numbers of the liver enzymes. 

How do the omega-three fatty acids do that?

• Omega-three fatty acids are very potent anti-inflammatory substances. They reduce inflammation all over your body, especially in your liver cells and that's the main reason they protect your liver cells from damage.
• The second thing that omega-three fatty acids do is that they do not let the bad cholesterol get deposited in your liver.
• This again will help in reducing the amount of fatty liver in your body. So, the omega-three fatty acids can be taken by everyone as a supplement to support your liver.

You do have to take a high dose of omega 3 fatty acids to see the improvement. So, at least, between thousand to 2000 mg of omega 3 fatty acids is needed to improve your fatty liver.

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Prebiotics & Probiotics

The third supplement which has been shown to be helpful for fatty liver disease is the prebiotics and probiotics. There is an important connection that exists between your gut microbiome and the liver. 

We have trillions of bacteria in our gut and all of these bacteria are helpful for the proper functioning of the liver. These bacteria help to reduce inflammation in your body, especially in your liver. 

Probiotics are the foods that help maintain the balance in gut bacteria and eventually aid the proper functioning of the liver and it also provides the proper nutrients for your body. And this is how probiotics have been shown to improve fatty liver disease. 

Good quality probiotics that include both lactobacillus and bifidobacterium are important for you to take for your fatty liver disease. Probiotics also help in insulin resistance and also help to lose weight too. And that is again the reason that they can be helpful for fatty liver disease. 

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Curcumin

The fourth supplement that can be helpful for fatty liver disease is curcumin.

Curcumin is, actually, an active ingredient that is present in turmeric which is an Indian spice. Turmeric has been shown to have so many different benefits. One of the benefits is that it can effectively support your liver. 

Turmeric has this active ingredient called curcumin, which basically reduces inflammation in the liver. Curcumin is an important regulator with an enzyme called NF-kappaB in your liver and your body. NF-kappaB component plays an active role in inflammation in your liver and curcumin blocks this enzyme and thus improves inflammation, and this way it helps improve fatty liver disease significantly. 

But the actual problem is that regular turmeric has a very little amount of curcumin in it. The research shows that curcumin has to be taken in a huge amount to improve fatty liver disease. 

In fact, you have to take at least 1000mg to 2000 mg of curcumin on a daily basis to improve your fatty liver disease.

Because of this, you have to take a supplement which is a concentrated form of curcumin. Only then it can be effective and will improve your fatty liver disease. 

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Vitamin D

One other supplement that is shown to be cause improvement for fatty liver disease is Vitamin D. Vitamin d has so many different benefits. It 

• improves your immunity, 
• Helps the thyroid hormone production
• Supports overall health

But, the sad fact is that most of us are deficient in Vitamin  D.

So, when your vitamin d levels are low, it doesn’t let your liver function better. The research shows that there is an association between low vitamin d levels and fatty liver disease.

Consequently, people who have low vitamin D levels have higher chances of getting fatty liver problems. 

We can get Vitamin D from sunlight but unfortunately the air pollution and the inability to get exposed to sunlight safely make it difficult to get enough amount of Vitamin D from direct sunlight.

Hence, it is very important to take Vitamin D supplements on a regular basis to support your body. It reduces inflammation in the liver, improves immunity as well as reduces the reactive oxygen species. Because of this, it supports your liver function depending on what your liver numbers are. 

Taking between 2000 units to 5000 units of Vitamin D on a daily basis will help improve your fatty liver disease. 

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To sum it up

These are the 5 basic supplements that anybody can take easily without many side effects and improve fatty liver disease effectively. A proper diet along with these supplements and the elimination of toxic food like processed food can help you improve your fatty liver. 

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