I read an amazingly interesting article about a guy, who is living with Type ll diabetes and was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Seems he’s been through hell and back (at least I think he’s baaaack?) because his wife, who also had Type ll diabetes, died of complications of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can be fatal.
Both NASH and NAFLD frequently occur with diabetes and are quite dangerous. Well, NASH is a worse condition to have than NAFLD, but both are caused by excessive fat that accumulates in the liver. NAFLD, however, can actually lead or progress into NASH.
And back to the gentleman who lost his wife in 2007 from NASH…
Because he had Type ll diabetes, his doctors ran additional tests and that’s when he was diagnosed with NAFLD, which must have been sobering to him. He set out to get healthier in hopes that a preemptive strike of improving his diet and beginning—and sticking to–an exercise regimen would reverse his NAFLD and avoid onset of NASH. Something must’ve worked because he managed to lose 150 pounds, a feat he said was very difficult.
So he started digging around in trusted medical publications and journals such as the Lancet that published its findings that Victoza, a drug prescribed to control blood glucose levels in people with Type ll diabetes, had been found to reverse NAFLD. But after tracing back the scientists and doctors involved in the clinical research, he learned they’d received some grants by Novo Nordisk… so yeah, there was a possible conflict of interest. But they were very above board by disclosing their affiliation in the Lancet.
And long story short, after thinking about it, he began to wonder if the drug Byetta, which is also known as Trulicity, might have actually helped him to lose weight and reverse his fatty liver disease. Same basic class of drugs—used to manage blood glucose.
Although he never heard back from the leading trial doctors and scientists associated with the Victoza study, he is pretty convinced that other drugs in this same class can also work well.
Only thing I have to say is: there’s nothing like getting losing weight the old fashioned way:
- Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, fiber, fish
- Significantly cutting out fats – which means cutting out cheese, dairy—unless it’s low fat
- Avoiding alcohol
- Significantly cutting back/avoiding red meat and pork (significantly high in fat)
- Finding—and sticking to an exercise regimen 5 days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes each day
- Forgiving yourself if you fall off the wagon—just get right back on the saddle and keep on doing what you’re doing. ‘Cuz inch by inch, anything’s a cinch!
