With rising cases, fatty liver disease becomes a silent epidemic

For decades, liver-related ailments were mainly linked with alcohol use, hepatitis infections, or genetic disorders. But doctors are now warning of another growing threat — non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), recently renamed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).

The name change underscores the real culprit: metabolic dysfunction. Central obesity, uncontrolled diabetes, hypothyroidism and cholesterol imbalances are increasingly being recognised as the key drivers of this condition.

Recent studies estimate that up to 38.6 per cent of Indian adults may already be affected. Alarmingly, in urban North India, the prevalence is even higher, with some Punjab-based studies reporting over 60 per cent of adults showing signs of fatty liver disease.

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