Elevated AFP w/ fatty liver

[ScaredDcat]

I was told 8 years ago that I had mild fatty liver, and then kind of forgot all about it until 6 months ago when there was mention of it on an abdominal CT scan report ( which I'd had for other reasons). My liver function tests are normal but the AFP is high. Has anyone else had an elevated AFP with fatty liver?

[CirroShis]

Over my lifetime i was told by 2 doctors i had fatty liver; they both told me to stop drinking to which i replied i don't drink (come from generations of alcoholics so never touched the stuff, never smoked, used drugs) neither of these doctors told me potential consequences, so i ignored it, until last October to my utter shock was told i have cirrhosis, told it is inherited in my case - to which i am dealing with today through changing the amount of sugar and salt i eat....sugar mediatizes like alcohol in your system (have educational background that proves this), never paid attention to amount of salt i ate before. Good news is at last check up my specialist said 'to keep doing what your doing'. I did not choose the drug route - highly allergic to meds, (had cardiologists screaming at me i was going to die, another slammed the door pretty much in my face )- did not take them for my heart or glaucoma - heart disease gone through going vegan, glaucoma stable.

D/Canada

[Liversheep in reply to CirroShis]

Liver processes fructose just like alcohol. Sugar not so much being only 50 percent fructose. High fructose corn syrup and fruit juice kills livers. Sugar drives obesity and diabetes also insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

[CirroShis in reply to Liversheep]

Studied pharmacology, sugar does process exactly like alcohol in the liver!

[Liversheep in reply to CirroShis]

Try again. Sugar is 50 percent fructose which is only processed in the liver exactly like alcohol. The other 50 percent is glucose which the cells can take up. This is very basic biology my friend.

[CirroShis in reply to Liversheep]

Let's try the long version. Firstly sugar is sugar. When sugar or alcohol enter your system they prevent your body’s methylation “gears” from turning. Specifically, alcohol blocks the methylation enzymes, while sugar increases inflammation hindering methylation.

Both alcohol and sugar also put stress directly on your liver, which makes detoxification more difficult, creating yet another “stone” in the gears of methylation. This is especially the case when you have an MTHFR mutation – also known as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) – such as SNP 1298 and/or 677.

Sugar comes in many forms including fructose (fruit sugar and high fructose corn syrup), glucose, sucrose (white table sugar), maltose, dextrose, and more. Sugar, in small amounts, is not a bad thing. Our bodies can use sugar to make energy. However, studies show that excess sugar consumption increases inflammation,2,3 which inhibits methylation via at least three different mechanisms:

Sugar feeds the bacteria in our intestines. When we consume more sugar than can be effectively absorbed by our intestines, it continues down through our intestines and overfeeds the bacteria instead. When bacteria are overfed, they overgrow, and when that happens, they can create toxins and send inflammatory signals throughout our bodies.

Sugar is absorbed from our intestines into our blood stream, where it increases our blood sugar levels. Insulin is the hormone that signals for sugar to enter cells. When insulin is overwhelmed, blood sugar levels stay high, and the excess sugar sticks to the outside of cells and proteins in the body – referred to as advanced glycation end-products (AGE) – causing cell damage, oxidative stress, and inflammation.

Excess sugar is stored in the liver, in fatty tissue, and as cholesterol. Over time, this leads to liver damage, weight gain, and elevated cholesterol and triglycerides. All three of these scenarios lead to increased inflammatory messages that spread throughout the body. The inflammatory signals caused by sugar block the methylation pathways, just as alcohol does.

The Effects of Alcohol and Sugar on Your Liver

Excess alcohol and sugar consumption also overtaxes your liver, causing many possible symptoms, which you might not intuitively connect with liver and methylation impairment.

[Liversheep]

Ok believe what you like. Dumping extra unnecessary unrelated half truths doesn’t enforce your original statement which is still wrong. So, goodbye to you.