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Dr. Jonathan Martin - 'Slimming Down Your Liver: The Truth About Fatty Liver Disease' - YouTube
(www.youtube.com)
Dr Jonathan Martin presents data from his practice, showing substantial weight loss and improved liver function tests in patients who adopted a low-carbohydrate, high-healthy-fat diet.
Being told I had FLD was the reason I started reading about metabolic health. I'm glad to say that my liver function markers are normal now.
Summary
Title: Dr. Jonathan Martin - 'Slimming Down Your Liver: The Truth About Fatty Liver Disease'
- Fatty liver disease, or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is a significant health issue affecting approximately 22% of Australians, with about 1,700 deaths annually from related complications like NASH, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.
- NAFLD can progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which leads to progressive liver damage, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver failure.
- Key risk factors for NAFLD include being overweight or obese, having high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, diabetes, insulin resistance, and a high waist circumference.
- Diagnosis of NAFLD involves identifying risk factors, abnormal liver function tests (such as elevated GGT and ALT), ultrasound findings like coarse echo texture, and high shear wave elastography indicating liver stiffness and fibrosis.
- NASH increases the risk of progressive liver damage, liver failure, primary liver cancer, and cardiovascular diseases like heart attack, arrhythmia, and stroke.
- Current guidelines for managing NASH include weight loss through a low-calorie, low-fat diet, blood sugar control, moderate alcohol consumption, coffee intake, weight loss drugs, vitamin E, obesity surgery, and statins, though statins do not reduce triglycerides.
- Dr. Jonathan Martin emphasizes the importance of a low-carbohydrate, high-healthy-fat diet in managing and potentially reversing NAFLD and NASH by addressing insulin resistance, the root cause of the metabolic issue.
- A study showed that a ketogenic diet improved diabetic control, reduced medication needs, and improved liver markers in diabetic patients, highlighting the benefits of low-carbohydrate diets.
- In Dr. Martin's practice, 50 patients with NAFLD underwent a low-carb, ketogenic diet intervention, resulting in an average weight loss of 8.5 kg (8.6% of body weight), with significant improvements in liver function tests and a reduction in waist circumference.
- A notable case involved a 65-year-old woman with severe liver fibrosis (F4) who, despite continuing moderate alcohol consumption, lost 15.6 kg and saw her fibrosis score improve from F4 to F0 after adhering to a ketogenic diet.
- Dr. Martin advocates for a tailored, one-on-one approach to managing NAFLD and NASH, emphasizing the effectiveness of a high-healthy-fat, low-carbohydrate diet in reversing liver damage and improving overall health.
The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases' recommendations for someone with NAFLD are ... heavy handed, to say the least, and the overall health of the patient seems to be the last thing on their minds: