The “Forever Chemicals” That Can Triple The Risk Of Liver Disease

Usually, our livers work best when we’re young, and begin to struggle in middle-age if we’re not careful with our lifestyle.

If you are thinking “well, I must be doing great, as I’m in/past middle-age and my liver is fine”, then: is that backed up with a recent liver test?

• If it is: great!
• If isn’t: please be aware that your liver can continue more-or-less functioning down to its last tiny bit, and it’s not uncommon to not have symptoms until the situation is truly very dire indeed.

Here’s what to look out for, though: 12 Signs Of Liver Disease That You Can See

Now, we said “usually, our livers work best when we’re young”.

But there are surprising things that can done to get liver disease started early…

The PFAS to MASLD pipeline

First, a note on terminology, because there has been a rebrand: what used to be called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now called metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).

Attentive readers may have noticed that there appears to be a D missing from the acronym. We noticed that too, and were not able to find any explanation of why it’s not MDASLD.

However, you can read about why the change was made, and how the decision was agreed upon, here: A multisociety Delphi consensus statement on new fatty liver disease nomenclature

Now, onto the latest science…

Researchers (Dr. Lida Chatzi et al.) analyzed data from hundreds of adolescents and young adults, measuring eight different per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in blood, and also assessed liver fat using MRI.

What Dr. Chatzi and her team found is that higher blood levels of certain PFAS were associated with an increased risk of MASLD in adolescents, with risk estimates as high as nearly threefold for some exposures.

The PFAS in question are widely used in nonstick cookware, stain- and water-repellent fabrics, food packaging, and some cleaning products. They persist in the environment, and are detectable in the blood of more than 99% of people in the US, and some are hit harder than others. While many health risks hit poor people the hardest, this one mostly affects wealthier people more—for why, see: The Household Cleaner That Triples Liver Disease Risk

Back to the recent study, it turns out that adolescents are even more vulnerable to the adverse health effects of PFAS, due to being in a critical period of development and growth.

Shocking nobody, smoking also made it worse at any age.

You can read the paper in full, here: Associations between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in adolescents and young adults: modifying roles of age, lifestyle factors, and PNPLA3 genotype

^{You may be wondering about that last bit: having the PNPLA3 GG genotype, a known liver fat risk variant, further increased the risk beyond the already-increased risk found in those without that genotype.}

If you’re not sure about your genes, then see: The Real Benefits Of Genetic Testing

Want to learn more?

Check out:

How To Unfatty A Fatty Liver

And if you want to give it some extra support…

Consider: N-Acetyl Cysteine For The Liver & More

Or for a much deeper dive into the broader topic of avoiding the toxins the industrial world is keen to throw our way, you might like this book that we reviewed a little while back:

Healthy Living in a Contaminated World – by Dr. Donald Hoernschemeyer

Take care!