Alert over kids' fatty liver disease

Liver disease experts are warning Perth primary school children about eating well and exercising because of concerns about a surge in fatty liver disease.

For the first time, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital doctors and the Liver Foundation of WA have taken to stalls in hospitals and schools to warn of the epidemic.

They estimate 40 per cent of people aged over 50 have the non-alcohol related condition caused by a build-up of fat in the liver and linked to obesity, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.

But the disease starts in childhood, with recent research showing one in eight WA 17-year-olds has early signs.

Lack of exercise, coupled with fast food and sugary drinks, makes children increasingly prone to liver disease, with some people with severe disease eventually needing a liver transplant.

Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital liver specialist Gary Jeffrey, who chairs the Liver Foundation and is medical director of the transplantation service, said the burden of liver disease in WA was climbing at an alarming rate.

The most common form was non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which now affected more that 5.5 million Australians, far surpassing alcohol liver disease or hepatitis B and C - normally considered the main liver problems.

Rates of the condition were overtaking type 2 diabetes and kidney disease and fast catching up with heart disease.

Professor Jeffrey said the condition was mainly lifestyle related and unless strong awareness was created now, the forecast for future generations looked grim.

"Not all people with fatty liver disease die from liver failure but they're certainly at increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications such as heart attack and stroke," he said.

Professor Jeffrey said the added concern was people with combined effects from fatty liver disease and alcohol liver damage.

Though transplants were an option, donor organs were scarce. Go to liverfoundation.org.au for more information.