Fatty liver disease symptoms: The texture of your poo can indicate if your organ is damage

Obesity: NHS explain how to work out your BMI

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Fatty liver disease is strongly associated with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. If you have one (or more) of these health conditions, how can you know if your organ is damaged? Scarring of the liver can eventually lead to liver failure, which requires an organ transplant, so it’s very important to prevent it from getting to that stage. A tar-like texture to your poo can be an indication of cirrhosis, Medical News Today confirmed.

Even loose stools (i.e. diarrhoea) could be a sign of advanced fatty liver disease if it’s accompanied by nausea and vomiting.

Other indications of a scarred liver include:

  • Tiredness and weakness
  • Abdominal swelling and pain
  • Yellowing of the skin and eyes (i.e. jaundice)
  • Confusion, difficultly focusing, memory loss, and hallucinations
  • Itchy skin
  • Bleeding and bruising easily

Before the liver becomes severely damaged, an inflamed liver might cause unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite and feelings of nausea.

Risk factors for developing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease include:

  • Genetic influences
  • Smoking
  • Older age
  • Steroids
  • Tamoxifen for cancer treatment
  • Rapid weight loss
  • Hepatitis infection
  • Exposure to toxins

READ MORE: Fatty liver disease: Two unusual colours on the body that could signal liver problems

Is there anything you can do to reduce your risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease? The answer is yes.

In order to minimise your risk of this health condition, it’s best to “moderate portions”.

This means not overfilling the plate – and having smaller plate sizes could help too.

It’s also helpful to “follow a [healthy] balanced diet”, and to reduce your salt intake.

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“Consume both proteins and carbohydrates, but limit fats and sugars,” advised Medical News Today.

Implementing healthy eating habits as soon as possible can help prevent (further) scarring of the liver.

Once bits of the liver become scarred, the organ is unable to heal those specific parts.

However, the organ has an amazing ability to heal itself by reducing inflammation.

Liver regeneration is supported by leading a healthy lifestyle which involves exercising, only drinking in moderation, and losing weight if needs be.

Am I obese?

The NHS body mass index (BMI) calculator can tell you if you’re at a healthy weight – all you need to know is your weight and height.

A BMI measurement of 30 or more is classified as “obese”; any more than 40 is termed “severely obese”.

Obesity is a “common problem” estimated to affect one in four adults in the UK.

Waist measurements

BMI is a useful indication as to whether a person is at a healthy weight.

A more telling sign of obesity is using a tape measure to measure the waistline.

Women who have a waistline of 80cm or more “are more likely to develop obesity-related health problems”, including fatty liver disease.

For men, their risk of health complications increases if they have a waist circumference of 94cm or more.

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