Kids And Fatty Liver

For parents to prevent fatty liver diseases in their kids

Fatty liver diseases in kids are linked with obesity. It is known as Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Diseases (NAFLD) and is one of the most common chronic liver conditions found in kids. As parents, when your kid suffers from NAFLD, it is really important to know the reasons, prevention and health hazards to have control over the situation.

What should you know about fatty liver diseases to protect your kid?

When the liver begins to store too much fat, fatty liver diseases begin to develop. It leads to inflammation and injures in the liver cells. The symptoms don’t show up initially, but as the disease advances, it affects the liver functions. An awareness that obesity leads to type-2 diabetes and other critical conditions does exist but not many know that liver diseases do happen due to obesity.

How can it be treated and what’s the impact?

To diagnose fatty liver diseases, the solution lies in measuring the child’s blood levelof the ALT enzyme. However, the inflammatory part can only be diagnosed through a biopsy. Inflammation in kids can lead to end-stage liver diseases and cirrhosis which occurs due to chronic inflammation in the liver.

This comes with consequences that cause problems in the future. If the liver stops functioning completely, a liver transplant is the only solution. Otherwise, it will be perform its metabolic and digestive duties in the body, filter out toxins from the blood and prepare proteins.

When do Fatty Liver Diseases start affecting a child’s health?

Children are affected by Fatty Liver Diseases from mid-childhood when they start to battle against higher ALT levels but, the damage begins in early childhood. Any kid, aged three or four years old with a huge waist circumference, can have a higher ALT after growing up. To prevent excess weight gain and high levels of ALT that cause liver inflammation, parents need to take precautions for their child from the beginning.

How can one prevent Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease?

Preventing this disease from developing in one’s child largely depends on the child maintaining a healthy weight by eating the right foods and doing the right exercise. A regular intake of Vitamin E is an excellent solution to prevent liver inflammation. Anyone with fatty liver should increase his dietary intake of alpha-tocopherol, which consists of Vitamin E and can control ALT levels. Vitamin E is contained in foods like tomatoes, avocados, fish, nuts, seeds and spinach. It is better to avoid vitamin E supplements as their effectiveness is yet to be proven.

Is screening of Fatty Liver Diseases possible?

There’s no dedicated screening tool to detect Fatty Liver Diseasesbut by measuring ALT levels in obese children during mid-childhood, specialists can get an insight into the condition of their liver.

Why Rela Hospital?

The Department of Paediatric Hepatology, Rela Hospital, Chennai, India, continues to provide excellent fatty liver disease treatment for children. With their comprehensive approach to diagnosing kids suffering from liver diseases, it has established itself as the best paediatric liver treatment hospital in Chennai. Its international class techniques of providing diagnosis and treatmentfor liver transplants to kids has put it among the best paediatric liver transplantation hospitals in India.