Date: October 25, 2024

The Truth About NAFLD Surge Triggering Health Risk In India

India is experiencing a worrying growth of lifestyle diseases as one particular disease is turning into a silent epidemic: Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Already having millions of patients, NAFLD is a liver condition characterised by excessive fat accumulation in the liver, not due to alcohol. What makes this condition particularly dangerous is that it usually advances without apparent symptoms until considerable harm, such as fibrosis or cirrhosis, has been done to the liver. If untreated, NAFLD will advance toward failure, with liver transplantation the only hope for survival in severe cases.

NAFLD is no longer a luxury of affluent societies; it has proved to be a significant public health issue in urban and rural India. The incidences of NAFLD are increasing rapidly, owing to the changed dietary patterns, sedentary lifestyle, and growth of obesity. It is a critical cause for organisations helping with organ transplants in India, providing poor patients with financial assistance when they cannot afford a life-saving procedure like a liver transplant.

The rising prevalence of NAFLD in India
NAFLD is estimated to affect almost 25-30% of the world’s population, and in India, too, it’s on the ascendance. Once strictly linked with Western diets, increasing trends of eating behaviour toward processed foods that are high in refined sugars and fats have developed a contributory role in NAFLD prevalence. Alongside sedentary lifestyles, urbanisation, and the complete lack of regular exercise, they are now being afflicted even among the younger segments of the population.

The bad news is that NAFLD tends to pass silently for a long time, often until it has progressed to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or even more aggressive stages, including liver cirrhosis and possibly liver cancer. Unfortunately, for those without access to early detection and quality healthcare, this often means that by the time the disease has been diagnosed, a transplant into the patient is required.

Transplant India, serves as a financial bridge to many in this high-cost procedure line. Liver transplants are expensive, and the search for financial aid for liver transplant patients in India becomes an impossible challenge for low-income families. Survival may not be prolonged enough for many such patients to have the chance of reaching an organ transplant organisation offering assistance.

Diet-Related and Lifestyle Problems
NAFLD is directly related to poor diet and lifestyle choices. The high-calorie diet laced with sugar and unhealthy fats is one of the main culprits behind this booming epidemic. Some rare foods in Indian diets, such as fast food, sugary drinks, and processed snack foods, are now ubiquitous in many homes, particularly in urban settings. Accordingly, the increase in obesity, one of the significant risk factors for NAFLD, remains reported throughout much of this country.

Sedentary lifestyles, especially in cities like Mumbai, increase the risk. Long periods of sitting, poor physical activity levels, and high levels of stress, particularly in the working population, have been linked to increased prevalence of NAFLD. Many are blind-sighted by such lifestyle choices until it’s too late.

Preventive and Therapeutic Considerations for NAFLD
The good news is that NAFLD can be reversed in most cases and is even more likely to happen when detected in earlier stages. NAFLD management heavily relies on lifestyle modification, including eating a healthier diet, being physically active regularly, and maintaining weight control. Thus, Nutrition-based interventions help exclude processed food, limit sugar intake, and create a better diet with a mix of vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, reducing liver fat.

Exercise is similarly crucial. Studies into the problem have identified that even moderate activity, like brisk walking or cycling, lowers the liver fat level and improves liver conditions. For the diagnosed victims of NAFLD, lifestyle modification forms their primary treatment, which can help avert the development of fibrosis or cirrhosis of the liver that, in some cases, will require a liver transplant.

For those patients who progress to needing a transplant, the task of raising money to finance a liver transplant in India is cumbersome. Organisations like Transplant India come as a saviour by filling this gap. By offering financial support for a liver transplant, they make expensive life-saving treatment affordable for such destitute patients. Crowdfunding organ transplants through NGOs has thus become an essential mode that makes the necessary transplants affordable for patients.

Transplant India is at the forefront of fighting NAFLD and other forms of liver disorders. Our work goes beyond funding, from funding to spreading the message of organ donation. It ensures that the organs donated by living donors in Mumbai and all over India are matched with those desperately in need. We are partnered with several charitable trusts and donors through which patients are not burdened by the insurmountable costs associated with organ transplantation. This support becomes the difference between life and death for many.

In addition, we aim to foster the giving of organs in Mumbai and everywhere. This has been necessary for increasing the registration of individuals who could help salvage others’ lives. Organ transplantation becomes available to people with this need by encouraging and educating them on how to become organ donors.

Conclusion
NAFLD is becoming a rising health threat in India by preventing the disease from reaching the dangerous stages with early detection, lifestyle modifications, and awareness. However, for those who push to that stage where liver transplantation becomes necessary, Transplant India would be a lifeline.

Transplant India is there for everyone who suffers from NAFLD or needs transplant-related support, and they are all geared up to provide anything that is required. We make the impossible possible, one life at a time, ensuring a brighter future for all by raising organ donation awareness.