World Liver Day: Healthy lifestyle and balanced diet can ensure healthy liver

Liver is the largest internal organ of the human body entrusted with performing around 500 vital functions including metabolism, filtration, protein synthesis and production of biles among others. However, liver health is overlooked on most occasions.

To create awareness on ensuring a healthy liver, April 19 is observed as World Liver Day, with ‘Food as Medicine’ as the theme for 2025. Several events are held to raise awareness about liver diseases, including how lifestyle changes can prevent liver diseases.

Though the liver has the capacity to heal itself and hence is called ‘general of the body’, the experts suggest people to avoid alcohol, processed and packaged food with high sugar and fat and adopt an active lifestyle.

Eating habit affect liver

Sedentary lifestyle is considered to be the primary reason for fatty liver, particularly non alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL). Lack of physical activity can lead to metabolic disorders, increase in body weight and insulin resistance.

Together with this, the changed eating habits also contribute to liver diseases. Most people are unaware of their activities damaging their liver.

Dr Arshiya Mubeen, gastroenterologist and hepatologist at Gemcare Kamineni Hospital, Kurnool said, “With changing lifestyles, most people are running after food for most of the time. Irregular eating habits can affect liver health and hence the theme ‘Food as Medicine’ has been selected as the theme for this year”.

For the past several years, the awareness programs were concentrated on hepatitis B, but now children and adults are suffering from fatty liver, the concentration has been shifted to food.

Adopt active lifestyle

The theme focuses on adopting healthy food and balanced diet to prevent liver diseases. Alongside this, taking healthy food and other lifestyle changes are recommended and campaign programs are carried out.

“The campaigns will focus on ensuring that people prefer healthy food over packaged and untar processed food items. Further, people are advised to avoid taking alcohol and quit smoking. Ensuring a balanced diet is highly helpful in the longer run and should add healthy oil like olive oil in daily food”, Dr Arshiya said.

Changing the lifestyle can even reverse the damages caused to the liver to some extent.

Don't overlook common symptoms

There are certain common symptoms which are overlooked, but can lead to severe liver complications.

Dr Arshiya advised to stay cautious of continuous gas trouble, feeling full frequently and bloating. “These are symptoms which should be addressed quickly. The stomach and liver are positioned side by side in the human body and whenever there is excess fat deposited in the human body, it settles around the liver, causing such problems”, she said.

When there is fat deposit around the liver, the functioning of the liver, including its metabolic actions can be badly affected.

“Metabolic associated fatty liver disease can be a major concern when the common symptoms are overlooked. Most of the liver related problems can be curbed by undergoing regular exercise, reducing weight and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle. It is highly impossible to reduce without good cardio exercise, resort to walking, swimming or spend at least an hour in the gym”, Dr Arshiya said.