LIVER DISEASE: THE HIDDEN DANGER

THE DEADLY NON-ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE IS REACHING EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS IN INDIA WITH 3 OUT OF 10 ADULTS AND CHILDREN AFFLICTED. WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PROTECT YOURSELF

- SONALI ACHARJEE

It was a rib scan that 39-year-old Abhirup Bhalla, a banking executive in Gurugram, had gone for following a small car accident. But it threw up a surprise that had nothing to do with Bhalla's ribs. Rather, it revealed an enlarged liver. Enough for his doctor to recommend further tests and conclude that Bhalla had stage 1 fatty liver disease. The diagnosis left Bhalla shocked. He did not have a weight issue, thanks to his regular jogs at the Aravalli Biodiversity Park. "I don't drink or smoke either," he says. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) does come as a rude shock to lean people like Bhalla. He may not have been an alcoholic but Bhalla's diet was loaded with added sugar and junk food. So while the jogging kept his overall weight in check, the excess calories wreaked havoc on his liver.

Like Alcoholic Liver Disease, NAFLD, too, is most commonly diagnosed when the liver shows more than 5 per cent of fat. In 2021, a meta analysis of 62 data sets from 50 studies on NAFLD published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology found 38 per cent of adults in India to have NAFLD, with Chandigarh having the largest share at 53.5 per cent. The prevalence among children was 35 per cent. "The incidence of NAFLD is on the rise in India," says Dr Tom Cherian, liver transplant surgeon at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai Central. "In fact, it is a global pandemic.

However, unlike previous pandemics, this one is hitting India hard because we are the world's centre for diabetes and central obesity, particularly fat around the abdomen."