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The abuse of fast food already causes more cirrhosis than alcohol

2023-03-09T10:48:52.040Z


The population presents increases in liver fat when a fifth or more of their diet is based on these products


Abuse in the intake of fast food, together with other unhealthy habits such as the lack of physical exercise, is linked to the development of health problems such as obesity or type 2 diabetes. In a country like Spain, where, according to data from the latest European Health Survey (2020), 16% of the adult population suffers from obesity and almost 40% are overweight;

and in which, according to 2021 data from the International Diabetes Federation, type 2 diabetes affects one in seven adults (the second highest rate in Europe), these associations are more than alerted by public health experts, doctors and disseminators.

There is a great lack of knowledge about the relationship between the continuous intake of fast food and the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (also known as hepatic steatosis).

It is a potentially fatal condition caused by the accumulation of fat in the liver and which can lead, in more advanced stages, to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

In countries like the United States, it is already the leading cause of liver transplantation.

According to the results of a recent study published in the scientific journal

Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology

, people with obesity or diabetes who consume 20% or more of their daily calories in fast food have very high levels of fat in the liver compared to those who They consume less or no amount of

fast food

.

The general population also presents increases in liver fat when basing a fifth or more of their diet on that type of food, although in this case the increase is more moderate.

“Healthy livers contain

per se

a small amount of fat that as a rule represents less than 5%.

We know that even a moderate increase in those levels could lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

We were especially surprised by the severe increase in liver fat in people with obesity or diabetes,” explains hepatologist Ani Kardashian, from the University of Southern California.

"This is probably due to the fact that these health conditions cause a greater susceptibility to the accumulation of fat in the liver," adds Kardashian, lead author of the study.

She believes that the findings are "particularly alarming" in a context like the current one, in which fast food consumption has increased considerably in the last 50 years, regardless of socioeconomic level.

In Spain, according to Rocío Aller, a specialist in the Digestive System at the Hospital Clínico de Valladolid, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is already the main cause of cirrhosis, even more than alcohol consumption.

"It is a first-level public health issue," says the expert, although she qualifies that the results obtained in the US are not directly transferable to Spain: "There it is more common for many people to consume fast food daily, while in Spain we can find frequencies of two to three times a week”.

However, she does believe that these data should be taken into account, especially since it is the young population and the most socioeconomically vulnerable that tends to have more regular access to this type of food, due to its low cost.

"Every time we find liver disease in younger population groups,"

For Giuseppe Russolillo, president of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, given the current situation, it is logical that cases of non-alcoholic fatty liver will rebound in the coming years.

“The population is becoming more sedentary, we are eating more processed and ultra-processed foods, the price of fresh and seasonal foods is getting more expensive… If nothing changes, we are heading towards a significant increase in the incidence of pathologies such as obesity, type 2 diabetes or fatty liver”, says the dietitian-nutritionist.

He points out, yes, that the fact of consuming this type of product is associated with the appearance of overweight and obesity and, therefore, hepatic steatosis;

but that not all people who are overweight, obese or have fatty liver have these problems from eating

fast food

, since in the end they are multifactorial diseases.

A disease without treatment

The problem, as Aller points out, is that currently there is no pharmacological treatment to address this condition.

“The only treatment is diet and physical exercise.

And the diet recommended by scientific evidence is the Mediterranean diet, which is just the opposite of fast food”, affirms the professor at the University of Valladolid, who laments the westernization process suffered by the diet in Spain.

“It seems unbelievable that, being in the Mediterranean basin, we are increasingly eating more like Western countries.

For them it is more difficult, because olive oil is not as readily available, and fruit and vegetables are more expensive.

But we should carry out health education so that people know that fast food is not healthy and that they should eat local food based fundamentally on the Mediterranean diet”, adds Aller, who considers it necessary and essential to lower taxes on healthy food and upload them to fast food so it's not as accessible.

For Russolillo, however, we are talking about a problem that cannot be solved only by imposing fines, raising taxes or regulating advertising.

“Spain is the only country in the European Union that does not have nutritionists in the public health system.

Doctors, nurses and pharmacists are collaborators in this field, they can give advice, but they do not have the skills of a nutritionist or the holistic knowledge that a nutrition professional has, ”he denounces.

In addition, he regrets that public health policies in this area are not designed by expert nutritionists and that they do not participate in the preparation of public documents on the matter.

"Taxing certain foods is easy, but we must go further, with nutritional education campaigns in schools, for children and their families, which should be led by qualified nutritionists," advises Russolillo.

He reminds us that food is not a merely biological act, but that food comes with a symbolic value associated with a culture.

“This is something that the public administration does not understand.

Do you think teenagers are going to stop eating hamburgers or pizzas because we tell them it's bad?

If you do not take into account the cultural context, policies are doomed to fail.

We are killing flies with cannon shots, ”he concludes.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-03-09

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