Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: This Food Cures It

The idea of food as medicine is becoming increasingly popular and is also strongly supported by science.

A study that just appeared in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows how one type of food cures nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and how another type causes it.

Cut out one type and load up on the other to watch your NAFLD melt away.

Chronic inflammation is one factor that puts us at risk of NAFLD, according to a strong body of research.

Some foods cause inflammation in our bodies, while others have anti-inflammatory effects. A large team of researchers decided to calculate the inflammatory scores of various diets and compare these with the likelihood of developing NAFLD.

They obtained information on 12,877 adults with an average age of 39.4, mostly between the ages of 28 and 50.

The researchers obtained a food frequency questionnaire from each participant at the beginning of the study period, indicating what they typically ate and how many times per week they ate it.

They obtained blood samples from each participant at the beginning and end of the study, using white blood cell count as an indicator of inflammation.

They also used annual abdominal ultrasound scans to diagnose NAFLD.

After calculating an inflammatory score for each diet and ranking them from least to most inflammatory, the researchers could see what effect these diets had on the development of NAFLD.

During the study period of 4.2 years, 2,744 of the participants developed NAFLD for the first time.

When compared to participants eating the diet with the lowest inflammation score, the subjects’ NAFLD risk increased as the inflammatory potential of their diets climbed: from 1% to 15% to 26% for the most inflammatory diet.

These astonishing numbers were obtained even after the researchers had adjusted their statistics to exclude other causes of NAFLD, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and so forth.

This leaves us with a simple lesson: we should increase our intake of anti-inflammatory foods and reduce our intake of pro-inflammatory foods in our diets.

Which foods are anti-inflammatory?

1. Fruits like berries, guavas, watermelon, red grapes, cherries, tomatoes, avocados, and red peppers.
2. Fatty fish like mackerel, sardines, and salmon.
3. Monounsaturated fats like olive oil and canola oil.
4. Any fibrous foods like oatmeal, brown rice, nuts, and beans.
5. Foods that contain certain flavonoids, like onions, green peppers, asparagus, kale, broccoli, soybeans, and tofu.

Which foods are pro-inflammatory?

1. An abundance of sugar such as in cookies, candy, breakfast cereals, granola bars, salad dressings, sodas, and most canned and packaged foods.
2. Trans (hydrogenated) fats, such as in shortening, some margarine, some salad dressings, and even packaged cookies and pastries.
3. Processed meats like bacon, hotdogs, pepperoni, and salami.
4. An abundance of omega-6 oils like corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil.
5. Refined carbohydrates, usually present in a grain product that is soft or white.

If you make sure that you eat from the top list and avoid foods on the bottom list, you should be fine.

But inflammation is just one piece of the puzzle. Thousands of readers have completely reversed their nonalcoholic fatty liver disease using the simple and natural steps explained here…