Obesity and Liver Damage: Daily Aspirin May Help

Common aspirin may be uncommonly helpful after all, especially when it comes to protecting a person's vital liver functions.. A new study at Yale University shows that aspirin may prevent damage to the liver caused by obesity, as well as by widely used medicines and alcohol abuse. Scientists think aspirin works by decreasing inflammation.

Obesity increasingly is recognized as a direct cause of liver damage. In 1980, a Mayo Clinic research team was the first to identify liver disease caused by obesity. Researchers called the condition Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Since then, Mayo Clinic scientists found that obesity is associated with excess fatty acids in the body. These excess fatty acids start a process that kills liver cells.

Many conditions can affect the liver, an organ vital not only to health, but to life itself. WebMD states these conditions include hepatitis, cirrhosis, gallstones, hemochromatosis, and liver failure and cancer. Common drugs, such as acetominophen (best-known under the brand name Tylenol), can cause liver damage. According to the Liver Foundation, alcohol abuse can lead to fatty liver, as well as alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis.

According to Ariel Feldstein, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic, fatty liver disease associated with obesity is a "growing worldwide problem." Researchers think that about two-thirds of people who are obese have fatty liver disease, called NAFLD. Based on the rise in child obesity, Joel E. Lavine, researcher at the University of California, San Diego, concludes that NAFLD is the "most prevalent liver disease in American children today."

The Mayo Clinic states that "simple fatty liver is usually a benign condition." However, Mayo makes clear that "about 10 percent of individuals [with simple fatty liver] can develop other liver abnormalities, including inflammation and scarring." These abnormalities pose a risk for impaired liver function. Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), the kind associated with obesity, often predicts hypertension, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, and diabetes.

Clinical Trials found that although "NAFLD was initially described as a slowly progressive disease, there are emerging data which shows that it can progress rapidly," even to the point of liver failure.

This has led scientists to work to find ways to protect the liver from damage associated with obesity. Scientists at Yale University studied the effect of aspirin on the liver. (Aspirin primarily turns into salicylic acid in the body.) They found aspirin had a protective effect, even in the case of acetaminophen (one brand name is Tylenol) poisoning.

Wajahat Mehal, M.D., a researcher at the Yale School of Medicine, stated that one part of a strategy to protect the liver from damage related to obesity was "to use aspirin on a daily basis." While aspirin is not appropriate for everyone, this simple approach certainly is worth discussing with your doctor if you are at risk for obesity-related harm to your liver.

Aspirin is not recommended for children, however, except under the advice and strict supervision of a doctor. Aspirin and viral infections are associated with Reye's Syndrome. Reye's Syndrome is a rare, but potentially life-threatening illness that mostly affects children.

Although children should not take aspirin without special direction and supervision of a doctor, children and adults can raise their blood levels of salicylic acid, the aspirin metabolite, by eating more fruits and vegetables. A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that people who ate generous amounts of fruits and veggies had salicylic acids blood levels almost as high as people who took low-dose aspirin everyday. Spices, such as those used in Indian cooking, also raise salicylic acid blood levels.

While scientists aren't sure that eating fruits and vegetables has the same protective effect as taking aspirin, the potential is there. Since children generally should not take aspirin, eating more fruits and vegetables is well worth a try for those at risk for obesity-related liver damage. Fruits and vegetables are healthy foods anyway and certainly are good dietary choices under any circumstances.

According to researchers at Yale University, the uncommonly helpful common aspirin may prevent, or mitigate, liver damage caused by obesity. Aspirin also may protect against liver damage caused by side effects from medicines and abuse of alcohol. A diet with lots of fruits and vegetables provides many health benefits, including possibly protecting the liver from obesity-related harm.

*** This article does not constitute medical advice in any way. Always consult your doctor.

Sources:

"Aspirin May Prevent Liver Damage That Afflicts Millions, Study Finds," Science Daily.

"How Fat Poisons Livers of Obese Children and Adults," Science Daily.

"Human Anatomy: The Liver," Web MD.

"Alcohol-Induced Liver Disease," Liver Foundation.

"Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in children," News Medical.

"Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in Hong Kong," Clinical Trials.

"Reye's Syndrome," University of Michigan C. S. Mott Children's Hospital Pediatric Advisor.

"Circulating salicylic acid is related to fruit and vegetable consumption in healthy subjects," Cambridge Journals.

"Salicylic acid content of spices and its implications," Cat.Inist.