Fatty pancreas is a warning sign of metabolic syndrome! 4 tips to stay away! Doctor: Fatty pancreas may lead to diabetes and pancreatitis

With the rise of health awareness, modern people are well aware that visceral fat can cause many health problems. In addition to the well-known "fatty liver", the problem of "fatty pancreas" should not be ignored. Fatty pancreas has been the focus of medical attention in recent years. It is highly correlated with metabolic syndrome. Once there is fatty pancreas, the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the future will also increase!

Fatty pancreas is as threatening as fatty liver, with a prevalence rate of up to 30%

Dr. Yang Jianhua, director of the Ultrasound Room at Lian'an Clinic, a Lian'an preventive medicine institution, said that the cause of fatty pancreas is similar to that of fatty liver. Simply put, when the human body consumes too many calories, it stores excess fat, which should accumulate in fat cells. However, the fat runs outside the cells. If it accumulates in the organs, it is called "ectopic fat." The liver is a relatively large "warehouse" among the internal organs, so it is the most common place where fat is accumulated the most, but the same form of fat accumulation can also appear in the pancreas.

With the advancement of ultrasound equipment, the chances of discovering fatty pancreas have increased. Therefore, in the past 7-8 years, the medical community has begun to pay attention to the health issue of fatty pancreas. Research data from the National Taiwan University Health Checkup Center shows that the prevalence of fatty pancreas in the health checkup population is about 16%. However, because most of the people who undergo health checks are health-conscious or young people, it is estimated that the actual prevalence of fatty pancreas may be as high as 30%, which is comparable to the proportion of fatty liver.

Fatty pancreas may be a precursor to metabolic syndrome

The scary thing about visceral fat is that it does not cause immediate and obvious symptoms, but it affects the body bit by bit in daily life. Dr. Yang Jianhua shared a statistic with everyone: "70% of patients with fatty liver also have fatty pancreas, and up to 97% of patients with fatty pancreas also have fatty liver. When fatty pancreas appears, you should be careful about "metabolic syndrome."

The definition of metabolic syndrome is: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood sugar, blood lipids, and blood pressure. If three of the five items are abnormal, it is considered metabolic syndrome, and there is an extremely high risk of cardiovascular and diabetes. Therefore, fatty pancreas may actually be a symptom that appears earlier than these values, so the public should be reminded to pay attention.

The scary thing about visceral fat is that it does not cause immediate and obvious symptoms, but it affects the body bit by bit in daily life. Let me share a statistic with you: "70% of patients with fatty liver also have fatty pancreas, and up to 97% of patients with fatty pancreas also have fatty liver. When fatty pancreas appears, you should be careful about "metabolic syndrome."

Metabolic syndrome definition

1. Waist circumference: male ≧90cm, female ≧80cm

2. Blood pressure: systolic pressure ≥ 130mm or diastolic pressure ≥ 85mm, or currently taking antihypertensive drugs.

3. Fasting blood sugar: Fasting blood sugar value ≧100mg/dL, or the patient is taking medication to treat diabetes.

4. Fasting triglycerides: triglycerides ≧150mg/L, or currently taking triglyceride-lowering medications.

5. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol: <40 mg/dL for men and <50 mg/dL for women.

Many studies have confirmed that fatty pancreas is positively correlated with many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, fatty liver, pancreatic inflammation, etc., and fatty pancreas is more common in the elderly. As age increases, fat infiltration becomes more obvious, especially in male friends.

The more fat accumulates in the pancreas, the more serious the damage to the internal organs! Early stage diabetes

When the fat accumulation in the pancreas exceeds 5%, the pancreatic cells will begin to be damaged. More fat infiltration will harm the pancreatic beta cells, leading to a decrease in insulin secretion. As the fat accumulates more and more, insulin sensitivity deteriorates and the risk of diabetes increases.

Studies have found that 50% of people with fatty pancreas will have diabetes, and 60-70% of diabetic patients have fatty pancreas. Therefore, I would like to remind you that if you find that you have fatty pancreas during a health check-up, you need to pay more attention to whether you may have "early diabetes", such as abnormal blood sugar levels.

4 tips to avoid pancreatic fat

If you want to avoid the formation of fatty pancreas or want to eliminate visceral fat, the most important thing is diet control, which is more effective than exercise. The following are the tips for preventing fatty pancreas:

If you want to avoid the formation of fat in the pancreas or want to eliminate visceral fat, the most important thing is diet control, which is more effective than exercise.

1. Weight loss:

Since obese people are the main high-risk group for fatty pancreas, it is recommended that "weight loss" is helpful and can also help improve many metabolic problems. In foreign countries, biguanide drugs are used to increase insulin sensitivity to improve fatty pancreas, but this method has not yet been included in clinical research in Taiwan.

2. Reduce refined sugar:

Whenever you eat something sweet, it's usually made with extra refined sugar. For example, bubble tea, flavored milk, cola, ice cream, candy, biscuits, various breads, cakes and other baked products all have extra sugar added. Special attention should be paid to reducing the intake of fructose, because fructose can only be metabolized in the liver and is often stored in the internal organs.

3. Reduce refined starch:

"Refined starch" refers to foods made from starch that has undergone multiple levels of processing to remove the bran and seed coat, such as white toast, white bread, white noodles, breakfast corn flakes, etc. Reducing intake can prevent obesity.

4. Regular health check-up:

People with a history of diabetes, triglycerides, and metabolic syndrome problems are also at high risk of fatty pancreas and are recommended to undergo regular abdominal ultrasound examinations. However, abdominal ultrasound is still limited by the location of the pancreas in the retroperitoneal cavity, so sometimes detection is not comprehensive. Magnetic resonance imaging, endoscopic ultrasound, and computerized tomography can provide more accurate examinations, but their relatively high prices cannot be widely implemented.

Dr. Yang Jianhua finally reminded that once you find that you may have fatty pancreas, it is recommended to track changes in blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood lipids every 3-6 months, control metabolic syndrome-related indicators early, and reduce the accumulation of triglycerides to protect the health of the pancreas.