There is a loophole in preventing fatty liver disease. The remedy is to measure your waist with a tape measure.

Have you measured your waist today? The standard waist circumference values ​​for boys and girls are 90 cm and 80 cm respectively, but a survey found that only 23% of Chinese people have a correct understanding of this. Experts remind that a large waist circumference means too much visceral fat, which can lead to a 50% chance of developing metabolic syndrome in the future. The chance of developing fatty liver is also higher than others. In severe cases, it may even develop into cirrhosis and liver cancer, so be careful!

A large waist circumference means too much visceral fat, which can lead to a 50% chance of developing metabolic syndrome in the future, and a higher chance of developing fatty liver than others.

What is the standard waist circumference? The cognitive error rate is nearly 80%

In 2016, the Millennium Love Health Foundation conducted a telephone survey of 1,202 people in Taiwan's six major cities and found that 73.0% of the people had heard of metabolic syndrome, but only 23.1% knew that the standard waist circumference for men and women is 90 cm and 80 cm, and only 3.2% could answer all five metabolic syndrome indicators correctly. This shows that although most people have heard of metabolic syndrome, they do not know what abnormal indicators are, nor what consequences will arise from suffering from metabolic syndrome.

The five major indicators of metabolic syndrome include: waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (bad cholesterol). Among them, waist circumference is the easiest item to self-monitor. It can be done with a "waist circumference tape" and 3 seconds a day.

Why is waist measurement important?

Cai Kesong, chairman of the Millennium Love Foundation and professor of the Department of Internal Medicine at National Taiwan University Hospital, said that "waist circumference" is an indicator of the amount of visceral fat, which is of great significance to obesity, fatty liver, three high chronic diseases, and even inflammation-related cancers. Many studies have found that a large waist circumference has a 50% predictive rate of metabolic syndrome. Once you have metabolic syndrome, your chances of getting diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, heart disease, and stroke in the future are 6, 4, 3, and 2 times higher than the average person, respectively. The disease is a long-term burden on the family.

Measuring waist circumference every day, eating healthy and maintaining an active lifestyle are habitual guidelines for preventing metabolic syndrome and fatty liver.

It is particularly important to note that patients with metabolic syndrome may also be candidates for fatty liver. Studies have found that the probability of patients with metabolic syndrome and diabetes suffering from fatty liver is more than 50% . Many people believe that alcoholism is the main cause of fatty liver, but in fact the causes of fatty liver can be divided into alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Non-alcoholic fatty liver is highly correlated with obesity, eating too much oil, high blood lipids or diabetes.

Ignoring fatty liver may accelerate the arrival of the "liver disease trilogy"

Professor Yang Peiming, executive director of the Academic Foundation for Liver Disease Prevention and Treatment, said that fatty liver disease includes: simple fatty liver, fatty liver hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Although most patients with fatty liver disease suffer from simple fatty liver, it has little impact on the liver itself.

However, if you are a patient with "fatty hepatitis" and the factors that cause fatty liver are not removed, such as continued alcoholism, poor weight control, diabetes or poorly controlled high blood lipids, it may progress to severe hepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. The risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with fatty liver hepatitis is as high as 2% to 3% per year, and the risk of developing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and colorectal cancer is also increased.

Stay away from metabolic syndrome and fatty liver. Waist circumference +2 less 2 more healthy diet

How can we stay away from metabolic syndrome and its complication - fatty liver? The Millennium Love Health Foundation and the Liver Disease Prevention and Control Academic Foundation jointly call on the public to develop the habit of keeping a fixed waist circumference and maintaining an active lifestyle, adhere to the healthy diet principle of "less fried food, less refined sugar, more high-fiber, more antioxidants" to prevent the occurrence of obesity and metabolic syndrome, and regularly undergo abdominal ultrasound examinations to understand whether the liver is healthy.