Liver Health and Diet Linked in Film

American Liver Foundation
Friday, 7 May 2004

Greater Study Needed in Connection Between Obesity and Liver Disease

The American Liver Foundation applauds the release of Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super Size Me for drawing national attention to the related problems of liver health and obesity. In the film, Spurlock, supervised by three doctors and a nutritionist, ate nothing but McDonald's food, three meals a day, for one month. The result was liver damage so severe that one of his physicians, Daryl Isaacs, MD, worried that Spurlock would succumb to liver failure before the month was over.

Though Super Size Me is not a controlled, scientific experiment, the American Liver Foundation believes that it presents an important first step in a necessary national dialogue. Americans are now chronically obese. Some 150 million Americans, 61 percent of adults, are overweight enough that it poses a risk to their health, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese. In March 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) named obesity as the fastest growing killer in the United States, second only to Tobacco. Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (fatty liver, or NAFLD) is a growing problem as a result, the impact of which needs to be measured and outcomes prepared for.

"The liver is the filter for everything we eat, drink and breathe," said Alan P. Brownstein, Chief Executive Officer and President of the American Liver Foundation. "Poor nutrition is the first step in developing it, and it's expected that millions of people already have it, and do not know it. We need, first, to educate the public of the dangers of fatty liver, and, second, to champion more research into the disease and its effects."

Fatty liver is the accumulation of fat in liver cells. It is common in patients who are very overweight or have diabetes mellitus. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a common, potentially serious liver condition. It may be associated with various risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, or elevated lipids, which should be controlled. At present, there is no recognized standard treatment.

"Creating awareness to promote a healthy lifestyle is essential," Brownstein said. "The American Liver Foundation hopes that this awareness is sustained by research and corporate programs that help keep the American public healthy."

For more information, or to contact American Liver Foundation, see their website at: www.liverfoundation.org