World Liver Day 2026: The liver is one of the most critical organs in our body, responsible for several essential functions that play an indispensable role in overall well-being, from facilitating detoxification and digestion to supporting immunity and metabolism. To put its importance into perspective, according to Michigan Medicine, the liver performs over 500 functions to keep the body healthy.
World Liver Day, observed annually on April 19, aims to raise awareness about liver health and ways to prevent liver diseases. On this occasion, let’s look at one of the most common narratives around poor liver health, which is often associated with alcohol consumption. But did you know that even without drinking alcohol, your liver can still be at risk?
Let’s uncover this ‘silent threat’ to liver health. In an interview with Dr Yogesh Batra, senior consultant-gastroenterologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, he unveiled how liver-related disease can still occur even if you are not drinking alcohol. He identified fatty liver is growing among non-drinkers.
“I don’t drink, so why do I have fatty liver?- is something we hear often,” he disclosed a common complaint among patients. “For years, fatty liver was seen as a condition linked almost entirely to alcohol. Now, this assumption is being rewritten. Across urban India, a new pattern is emerging, which is a growing number of populations being diagnosed with fatty liver despite having little to no alcohol intake,” the gastronetologist spotlighted this alarming pattern.
It demonstrates that fatty liver is no longer just an alcohol-related condition. It often takes patients aback, as they wonder how their liver health is affected even when they do not drink. This, in turn, helps debunk the common myth that liver disease occurs only due to alcohol intake. This shift in narrative also helps break the complacency people may have.
Non-alcoholic fatty disease’s causes
Awareness is important as fatty liver, which was traditionally associated almost entirely with alcohol consumption, is now being understood differently. This assumption is changing, with many urban Indians being diagnosed with fatty liver despite low or no alcohol intake.
Dr Batra identified the cause, “Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is emerging as a common lifestyle-related disorder, linked closely with the modern lifestyle habits rather than alcohol consumption.”
Here are some of the major lifestyle risk factors which contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease:
- Sitting for long hours: Long hours of sitting (desk work, traffic, screen time), which slows metabolism.
- Irregular eating patterns: Such as skipping meals, late-night eating, and frequent takeaway/ packaged food consumption.
- Unhealthy diet: Diets high in carbohydrates, sugar, and processed foods contribute to weight gain and metabolic imbalance.
Now let’s see what happens in your body when you follow a sedentary lifestyle for a long time. When you don’t exercise, you are more likely to gain fat. But what does the liver do with this fat, and how does NAFLD come to be?
The gastroentrologist answered, “NAFLD develops when extra fat starts getting stored in the liver of people who consume little to no alcohol. Simply put, the liver, which is responsible for processing everything we eat and drink, begins to hold on to fat instead of breaking it down efficiently.”
This means liver disease is not dependent on drinking habits anymore. Your lifestyle is equally responsible, causing the fat to build up in the liver.
“Over time, this build-up reflects a deeper imbalance in how the body is managing energy, sugar, and fats,” Dr Batra observed, suggesting that our entire well-being might come at risk, pointing to a major systemic metabolic imbalance, which implies that NAFLD does not stay as an isolated condition.
Lean fatty liver – the invisible threat
You may think that since a sedentary lifestyle fuels fatty liver, it can be easily identified if a person is overweight or obese.
However, the gastroentrologist provides a shocking reality check, demystifying this myth, “Not always visible on the weighing scale. It is also no longer a condition limited to those who are visibly overweight.”
This means people may often think they are healthy because of their weight, but they may have silent health problems developing inside. It is concerning how many lifestyle diseases, like NAFLD, are being detected in people who do not visibly appear overweight. It is therefore critical that the assessment should go beyond appearance.
This type of fatty liver has a name. Dr Batra described, “A growing number of Indians with a ‘normal’ body weight are being diagnosed with fatty liver. This condition, known as ‘lean fatty liver’ highlights an important reality that metabolic health is not always reflected on the weighing scale.”
Even otherwise, the regular NAFLD, as the gastroentrologist observed, does not show any visible signs in its early stages, often leading to late diagnosis. Worse still, even when symptoms do appear, they overlap with common everyday issues, such as fatigue or general digestive discomfort. These include persistent fatigue, mild discomfort in the upper abdomen, mistaken for bloating, and difficulty in managing weight, all of which are easily overlooked.
How to manage NAFLD?
Not drinking alcohol is not the only way to prevent liver disease.
Instead, you need to focus on improving your lifestyle. Dr Batra suggested engaging in regular exercise to manage fatty liver: “Engage in moderate-intensity exercises, such as brisk walking for about half an hour almost every day of the week.” Movement is important to prevent fat build-up.
He also addressed the other pillar of lifestyle- diet, advising people to eliminate foods high in refined carbs and ultra-processed meals. Instead, include vegetables, whole grains, low-fat proteins, and healthy fats, which can help reduce fat accumulation in the liver. The doctor also emphasised the importance of regular screenings, as the condition is often silent. One should not rely on body weight alone as a criterion for liver health.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. It is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.
