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Book review: human foie gras

Book review: human foie gras

The belittled widespread disease fatty liver – the biggest risk of diabetes and heart attack

A fatty liver has been previously associated with excessive consumption of alcohol, now more and more non-alcoholics suffer from it.

A non-alcoholic fatty liver can confidently be called a new widespread disease.

According to Prof. Dr. med. Nicolai Worm affects about 70% of all obese and one in four of them!

A fatty liver is considered the most important risk factor for the development of heart and brain infarcts, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and many cancers. With his book “human foie gras” the nutritionist wants to explain the causes and consequences of the fatty liver phenomenon and show how to restore the health of his liver through a specially developed liver fasting.

Fatty liver on the rise

An estimated 20-40% of all people from industrialized countries are already suffering from non-alcoholic fatty liver (in English: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, hence abbreviated to NAFLD).

As the liver becomes more and more fatty, its ability to respond to the hormone insulin decreases accordingly. An insulin-resistant and fatty liver, however, can no longer perform its tasks properly. A condition that causes sugar and lipid metabolism problems and sooner or later results in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Good to know: When does one speak of a non-alcoholic fatty liver?

Normally, the fat content of a healthy liver is no more than 1 to 1.5% of its weight. Steatosis occurs when more than five percent of the liver cells store fat and the diagnosis “fatty liver” is made when the fat content of the liver is at least 5% of its weight or over 50% of the liver cells visibly store fat.

In the case of NAFLD, fatty liver disease should not be caused by excessive consumption of alcohol (regularly more than 20 g of alcohol a day in women or more than 30 g of alcohol a day in men), a familial predisposition, various liver diseases (such as hepatitis B or C ) or damage caused by medication.

Because the cells become insulin resistant in NAFLD, insulin levels in the body increase. Hyperinsulinemia, however, is harmful to our entire body. A NAFLD is therefore considered a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.

Where does the fat in our liver come from??

There are basically two ways in which fat can enter our liver. On the one hand the liver can form new fat cells and on the other hand it can reach our liver via our food. Not only dietary fat plays a role, but also carbohydrates.

When fat cells become dysfunctional endocrine glands, the dilemma begins

The real job of fat cells is to store excess calories from the diet as an energy reserve for “worse” times. The problem of today’s usual over calorie diet, however, puts the fat cells on the edge of their capacity.

The more fatty acids the fat cells store, the bigger they become. At some point, however, their propagation capacity has been reached. If, however, surpluses continue to be stolen from food, the fatty tissue is forced to form new fat cells. No problem for our body.

However, fat cells are not dead cells, but living tissue that constantly wants to be supplied with blood and the nutrients it carries, above all oxygen. This means that new capillaries (= blood vessels) must form to be able to supply the newly developing fatty tissue.

Depending on the predisposition and level of overeating, it may happen that the new blood vessels can not be formed as fast as the fatty tissue spreads. As a result, the new fat cells are poorly supplied with blood and oxygen. They get stressed. The affected fat cells then begin to expel inflammatory substances, which are thought to be a cry for help to encourage the formation of new capillaries. The fat cells, so to speak, fight for their survival and develop into dysfunctional fat cells.

If the living conditions remain unchanged, that is, the body has to continue to cope with more energy than it needs, as long as the over-supply persists constantly releasing pro-inflammatory messengers from the underserved fat cells, at the same time they are insulin-resistant, to prevent even more fatty acids in the cell interior (Insulin is not only important for the transport of glucose (= glucose) into the cells, but also to inject amino acids and fatty acids into the cells!).

Good to know: Lean is not safe

How fast fat cells develop into dysfunctional hormone glands does not only depend on the lifestyle, but is also determined by genetics. Therefore, even lean people can suffer from a non-alcoholic fatty liver.

An estimated 15-20% of all lean people suffer from NAFL and have typical symptoms such as high blood pressure and high blood lipid levels. In contrast, about 30% of obese metabolism are healthy and have no NAFLD, normal blood pressure and blood lipid levels despite their increased body weight.

Fatty liver – what does insulin resistance have to do with it?

As we have seen, fat cells lose their ability to adequately respond to insulin, but they also lose their ability to hold the fatty acids. The fatty acids run out of fat cells, so to speak, and look for new places to store themselves. The abdominal space offers plenty of space and the fatty acids deposit there with preference, especially in the abdominal organs. The liver is also located in the abdomen and is confronted with the flooding fatty acids and begins to fatigulate.

Also, if our muscle cells become insulin resistant due to lack of exercise and excess nutrition, it will have a negative impact on our liver. Because the excess substances are then forwarded to them, as the liver acts as an important nutrient storage in the body. The interesting thing is that not only the fat from the diet, but also food carbohydrates in the liver can become fat.

Carbohydrates as a worse evil?

Excitingly, Worm stresses in his book that carbohydrates are the bigger evil in NAFLD than fats. Because a NAFLD is associated with insulin resistance. However, if the cells no longer react appropriately to this hormone of the pancreas, it results in a serious disturbance in the sugar metabolism.

The carbohydrates fed through the food are broken down in the body into the simple sugar glucose, which can no longer enter the cells. This provokes high blood sugar levels and that can be dangerous. The liver is now trying to store as much glucose as possible, but its storage capacity is limited. Then there is no other way out than to convert excess glucose into fatty acids and store them in the fat cells.

Good to know: Are carbohydrates evil? The insulin sensitivity of the cells is important

Still, most ecotrophologists, nutritionists and nutritionists claim that carbohydrates do not make you fat because very little of them are turned into fat.

This doctrine goes to the investigations of Prof. Dr. med. Pudel back, who discovered in his research that carbohydrates are converted into fat above a level of more than 500 g. And basically, that’s true, but only if the cells in the body are still responding appropriately to insulin.

However, in people who already suffer from insulin resistance, the metabolism of carbohydrates works quite differently. Even small amounts of carbohydrates are enough to stimulate the regeneration of fat cells.

Fructose is particularly dangerous then. Normally, fructose is converted into glucose in healthy people in the liver and then channeled as fuel into the muscle cells or stored as glycogen.

However, if the liver is busy metabolizing glucose as quickly as possible to reduce blood sugar as quickly as possible due to insulin resistance (excessively high blood glucose levels can be fatal!), There will be no capacity left to take care of the fructose , It is then converted directly to fatty acids and thus promotes the development of fatty liver.

Fruit sugar is not only in fruits, but is a natural component of sucrose, our table sugar. Half of this white powder consists of glucose (glucose) and fructose (fructose). Sweets, but also all forms of fruit juices are particularly critical in these circumstances!

How to prevent a non-alcoholic fatty liver?

As we have seen, NAFLD develops when the cells in the body become insulin resistant. So insulin sensitivity plays a crucial role. The better our cells react to insulin, the lower the risk of fatty liver.

Although genetics also plays a role in the question of how well our cells react to insulin, a corresponding lifestyle can lay the foundation for good insulin sensitivity even in poor conditions. In short, this means: enough physical activity to keep the muscle cells’ energy and nutrient needs high, and at the same time a well-balanced diet that delivers rather less than too many calories.

What to do with non-alcoholic fatty liver?

If there is already a non-alcoholic fatty liver, there is no reason to panic. Because the liver is an organ with great capacity for regeneration. When lifestyle parameters are changed, the liver recovers quite quickly and removes excess fat.

In order to achieve this quickly, according to Worm, so-called formular diets have proved successful in which participants consume no more than approx. 500 calories per day. After just a few days to weeks, the fat in the liver can return to normal.

Subsequently, Worm recommends a diet with low glycemic load as part of its Logi nutritional concept. Taking into account the sugar content, the glycemic load provides information on how quickly the sugar contained in a food goes into the blood. The more glucose and the faster it raises the blood sugar level, the more insulin must be poured out to lower the blood sugar again.

Grain products from whole grain, quinoa, millet and other high-carbohydrate rich foods should therefore only be eaten on an occasional basis and processed, refined carbohydrates, as contained in sweets, juices or white flour products, should be avoided altogether.

On the other hand, vegetables and whole fruits, which, unlike juices, still contain fiber and are therefore metabolized more slowly, serve as the basis. Furthermore, the author attaches importance to an adequate supply of protein and healthy fats, so that high-protein and high-fat foods serve as satiety.

In addition, the ecotrophologist emphasizes the importance of exercise. Especially for overweight people, it is important in his eyes, to be physically active regularly to keep the fat cells fit. If you do not like endurance sports, you can also do strength training, which is more comfortable for many obese people.

My conclusion to the book:

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is on the rise in our affluent society, and it is important that we know how to prevent this from our lifestyle alone. These relationships are described in the book “Human Stomach Liver: The belittled common disease fatty liver – the biggest risk for diabetes and heart attack“* Comprehensively and comprehensively set out and give us as consumers the knowledge in the hand, in order to be able to enjoy our life healthy as long as possible. Better to act now than if it’s too late.

And even if I do not 100% share the nutritional recommendations of the author, but would avoid even with an existing insulin resistance certain amino acids or combinations of rapidly flowing into the blood amino acids and carbohydrates (detailed here) I have an absolute buy recommendation for this book!

Incidentally, the book was published by riva Verlag.
Buy now at buch7>>*

*Note: The links marked with * are affiliate links, ie links to partner companies such as: For example to the Amazon website or topfruits page. If a reader clicks on an affiliate link and subsequently on a product of our affiliate company and makes a purchase, we may receive a small commission. In doing so, we will pay part of the expenses we have for operating and maintaining our website and may continue to keep the website free of charge for our readers. For the end user this does not change anything. The price stays the same. We only recommend products and services that we like to use ourselves and report on these editorially!

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