Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a type of fatty liver disease that is complex in and of itself, affects a large proportion of the world’s population. However, it is now understood that this condition can have an impact on the brain.
According to experts at King’s College in London and the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, as fat deposits accumulate on the liver, oxygen supply to the brain can be compromised. It causes inflammation on the one hand, but it can also lead to other complex diseases such as brain degeneration.
This fatty liver condition is so common that it affects 25% of the world’s population, including Pakistan, and 80% of them are overweight or obese.
Researchers did tests on mice by giving one group 10% fat and the other group 55% fat (as calories), which was the same amount of fat, sugar, and fast food as the whole.
The experts performed several tests on the mice’s liver and brain after 16 weeks. Surprisingly, all of the high-fat fed mice developed NAFLD and insulin resistance (a diabetes-like condition), and several brain functions were affected. In mice fed a normal healthy diet, however, no such condition was observed.
Following that, researchers from the University of Lausanne discovered that mice with fatty livers had oxygen deprivation in their brains. This is due to the fact that obesity narrows the arteries in the brain and is linked to fatty liver. Mice with fatty livers appeared depressed and unhappy as well.
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