If a person from any country has recent history with modern processed foods, high fructose or high carbohydrates...

Metabolic problems are very normal for people with modern diet...

Diabetes, SIBO, IBS, Leaky Gut and NAFLD... the metabolic pandemic.

At least 80% of people with diabetes also have fatty liver, warns endocrinologist

Obesity an indicator of fatty liver disease

But there is one potential indicator of NAFLD. Cusi recently conducted a study of overweight or obese Latinos and non-Hispanic whites to find out whether Latinos are more likely to develop insulin resistance and liver disease. Past studies showed that this group is more likely to have Type 2 diabetes than most other racial groups.

“Because Hispanics get more Type 2 diabetes, there was a thought that they get more fatty liver disease,” said Cusi.

But the results indicated that ethnicity has little correlation with NAFLD. The most prominent factor was obesity.

But many diabetics with a fatty liver are not aware that they have the condition. Cusi said NAFLD is typically undiagnosed due to a lack of awareness among some physicians, as well as the hidden nature of the disease.

Fatty liver often causes no observable symptoms until the disease has progressed into cirrhosis, the late stage of liver scarring. The most reliable way to diagnose it is through a liver biopsy, an invasive and expensive procedure. Other options such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound scans are cheaper but less precise. Physical exams and blood tests are wholly inaccurate.