Children, Diabetes and Fatty Liver Disease

There are 9 million American children who are considered overweight.
They also have potentially related health risks: Type 2 diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and heart problems.
There is another weight-related concern: fatty liver disease.
Fatty liver disease can be found among overweight children and adults. With fatty liver disease, the fat collects in the liver cells. Simple fatty liver does not normally damage the liver, yet the more serious type of the disease does, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). It is a liver inflammation due to the collection of fat in the liver which causes damage to liver cells.
Doctors have known about the risk of the disease among overweight adults. In fact, Dr. Joel Lavine, of the University of California, San Diego, says about one in four adults has some form of fatty liver disease, but because it usually produces no symptoms, most have no idea they’re affected.
A recent study found that 8% of all children aged betweeb 2 and 19 are suffering from fatty liver disease.
What is more alarming is that a great number of them have the most severe form of it. If not diagnosed and treated, the severe form of fatty liver disease can lead to liver failure, cirrhosis, or liver transplant, or even death.
The great thing about the liver is that when the insult is
removed, it is capable of rejuvenating and returning to its normal state.
Just losing weight can reverse the disease and return the liver back to normal, Lavine said.