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Liver disease in fat children latest obesity risk Cripes, what next?
In a new and disturbing twist on the obesity epidemic, some overweight teenagers have severe liver damage caused by too much body fat, and a handful have needed liver transplants.
Many more may need a new liver by their 30s or 40s, say experts, warning that pediatricians need to be more vigilant. The condition, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure or liver cancer, is being seen in children in the United States, Europe, Australia and even some developing countries, according to recent medical studies and doctors interviewed by The Associated Press.
The American Liver Foundation and other experts estimate 2 percent to 5 percent of American children over age 5, nearly all of them obese or overweight, have the condition, called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
related link:
A 462-pound British Teenager Hopes a U.S. Fat Camp Will Save Her Life
So what came first – rising healthcare costs or television watching sloths binging on corn syrup and saturated fat?
I recall seeing a news report that Washington University in St. Louis was studying the effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup and Fatty Liver Disease.
Apparently regular fructose does not get metabolized straight into the blood / cells like other sugars….or something to this effect. Fructose goes straight to the liver where it gets converted into a fatty deposit. High Fructose Corn Syrup is obviously more concentrated and people’s exposure to it is even more so.
Regardless, the news report interviewed a woman who ended up needing a liver transplant due to fatty liver and the main culprit (at least in her case) was she ate a diet rich in high fructose corn syrup.
That being said, I do not know if the Brits are using HFCS so this may be an unrelated matter.
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Slight correction, the lady who got the liver transplant got it due to getting cirrhosis of the liver caused by her high fructose corn syrup diet. Before then, I never heard of such a thing.
The CDC used to have a graph that went as far back as the 70s (which I can no longer find) but showed how the obesity epidemic magnitude mirrored in proportion to the use of HFCS in foods…. but something tells me that the graph is no longer available for obvious reasons.
Unsure how things are done in the US but surgeons where I live can refuse life saving surgery to a patient who has a chronic disregard for their own well being. Liver transplant surgery for the morbidly obese, heart operations for recidivist smokers, cancer treatment for drug addicts, are all subject to consideration. And, while I’m here, how does a responsible parent watch a teenager grow to a quarter ton? Where was their involved engagement with the child?
Cripes, if I’m going to get Cirrhosis of the liver, it’s going to be from scotch, not high fructose sugar.
Soylent Foie Gras anyone?
Interestingly, at one time you could buy fructose as a sugar substitute, in stores. But I haven’t seen it in years. Now it’s either Nutrasweet, Splenda, or SweetnLow (saccharin). If you could even find fructose crystals, it would probably be very expensive. But it use to be recommend to diabetics. This is the first I’ve heard about it being a problem for livers.
You hardly ever hear about Nutrasweet’s side effects. I’ll never eat that crap again after suffering the alcohol buzz it can cause. I’ve heard that aircraft pilots avoid its use. But it Ok for the rest of us to feel doped, eh?
I think it’s just possible that this problem is a result of making too many babies in the world. Making cheaper substitutes for good food, for a larger population. Resulting in a man-made epidemic that threatens to reduce lifespans. Thus reducing the population numbers for us, since we’re too “righteous” to manage the birth rate for ourselves. God will use fast food to slap our asses down. Clever eh?
#9, Glenn,
I would put it down as improved health care. Years ago, infant and child mortality often had up to 25% of all children. Because so many of the causes; measles, polio, diphtheria, etc. have been seriously curtailed to the point of virtual non-existence, we are seeing more and more of the more rare diseases.
The Western diet, especially the American diet uses far more prepared foods. While HF sweeteners may be a problem, there is more likely also several other food additives that either by themselves or in combination are contributing to obesity.
Also, there is currently enough arable land to feed the entire planet. The problem is that so much of it is not where the people are. Add to that, what land there is, people want to build their houses on it, thus removing it from agricultural purposes.