Up to 10% of all children in the USA may have NAFLD

There is not a wide amount of awareness of NASH even among the highest at-risk adults, but there is also an increasingly worrying trend of increased NAFLD & NASH diagnosis in children, some extremely young.  Alarmingly, studies have found that progression from NALFD to more advanced NASH was quicker and more severe than in adults.

There isn’t a lot of empirical data available on younger children and the disease, but several studies have been undertaken in an attempt to understand the prevalence of the disease.

nafld-affects-children

Continue reading “Up to 10% of all children in the USA may have NAFLD”

We cannot be PC about our health

There is a disturbing trend in social health movements to ignore medical realities in favor of mental wellness.  That is, to pretend that a medical condition isn’t a threat because to acknowledge it may hurt someones feelings.  I’m here to tell you that non-alcoholic steatohepatitis doesn’t care about your feelings; it will kill you all the same. Continue reading “We cannot be PC about our health”

Let’s Talk About Your Weight

There’s an uncomfortable truth for many individuals to face regarding their health.  Rates of obesity in the USA have increased by an average total of 15% since 1990.  In the majority of states more than 25% of the entire population is obese.  In many more rural states these numbers regularly exceed 35%.  These climbing rates affect a whole host of health issues and have been directly linked to exceptionally slow mortality improvement when compared to other western nations.

America, this is a wake up call.  You’re too fat. Continue reading “Let’s Talk About Your Weight”

What is NASH?

NASH is the acronym for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.  It’s a type of advanced liver disease that is clinically indistinguishable from alcohol-induced liver damage, but whose causes are totally different.  Late stage NASH leads invariably to chronic cirrhosis and ultimately liver failure and death.  The most common cause of NASH is long-term obesity, and so the threat has grown in relation to the rising rates of obesity in western society.  Therefore NASH is quickly becoming an epidemic, with estimates of 15 to 30 million Americans living with the disease, the vast majority of whom are undiagnosed.  They are living with a ticking time bomb inside their bodies. Continue reading “What is NASH?”