Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) refers to a comprehensive disease caused by metabolic abnormalities in the human body, such as insulin resistance and "secondary shock", without a long-term history of excessive alcohol consumption. Pathological biopsy shows the degeneration and accumulation of liver cells in the human body. The pathogenesis of this disease mainly progresses from steatosis to NAFLD, gradually developing into fatty liver cirrhosis or even liver cancer. With the rapid development of economy, the pace of people's life is accelerating. With the change of modern people's diet structure, the improvement of living standards, and the reduction of outdoor activities, the incidence rate of the disease is increasing year by year. NAFLD accounts for a large proportion of the population in China. Every year, there are not a few patients with liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer caused by the progress of the disease. The middle-aged men are the high incidence group, and it also spreads to more and more teenagers, which largely affects the quality of life and family happiness of patients, and creates a large load on the healthy development of social economy. Clinical observations have shown that the vast majority of patients with fatty liver often do not experience any discomfort in their daily lives, and often discover the presence of fatty liver during imaging examinations during physical examinations. Fatty liver is divided into alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver in modern Western medicine. Non alcoholic fatty liver refers to a clinical disease characterized by excessive accumulation of fat in liver cells, excluding the effects of alcohol and a series of clear factors that can damage the liver. If not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner, this disease may induce various hidden liver diseases and lead to the occurrence of cirrhosis to a certain extent.
Although there are no specific records of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in ancient books and literature of traditional Chinese medicine, based on the clinical manifestations of this disease, it can be classified as "accumulation", "stasis syndrome", "phlegm turbidity", "rib pain", "jaundice", "liver obsession" and other categories. Traditional Chinese Medicine believes that the main causes of this disease are irregular diet, poor emotions, and long-term physical deficiency. The disease is located in the liver and is closely related to the spleen. Due to irregular diet, poor emotions, and long-term physical deficiency, liver depression and spleen deficiency are caused. Liver depression cannot be relieved, resulting in qi stagnation and blood stasis, leading to poor operation of the qi mechanism. In addition, excessive consumption of fat, sweetness, and greasiness, internal generation of phlegm and dampness, and the combination of dampness and heat, as well as pathological products such as blood stasis and phlegm retention, obstruct the meridians, phlegm and blood stasis, and the meridians are not smooth, resulting in discomfort, bloating, rib pain, bile reflux, and other phenomena in the right epigastric region. Spleen deficiency leads to spleen stagnation. The disease is caused by the accumulation of water and dampness in the spleen due to the lack of good health and the inability to transport water and grains. Over time, this leads to the development of dampness and heat, which can burn the body fluids and refine them into phlegm. Pathological products such as phlegm turbidity, dampness and heat, and blood stasis accumulate in the liver, forming the disease, In addition, some patients also experience shortness of breath and general fatigue. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that it is closely related to the heart, spleen, kidneys and other organs. Some scholars also believe that the location of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is related to the spleen. On the basis of qi deficiency or yang deficiency, it, together with pathological products such as phlegm dampness and congestion in the body, constitutes the syndrome characteristics of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The modern Western medicine treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease mainly adopts a combination of liver protection drugs, lipid-lowering drugs, lipid metabolism promoting drugs, bile acid secretion promoting drugs, and blood glucose regulation and control drugs, aiming to reduce insulin sensitivity, reduce the accumulation of free fatty acids in the liver, inhibit inflammatory reactions, control the degree of liver fibrosis, reduce lipid deposition in liver cells, and promote the recovery of liver cell damage. Among them, injectable reduced glutathione is widely used in the treatment of fatty liver disease, viral hepatitis, and alcoholic hepatitis, which can promote glucose metabolism, fat metabolism, protein metabolism, and bile acid metabolism in the body, enhance the detoxification function of the liver, and its efficacy has been widely recognized. Patients can also take traditional Chinese tea drink formulas for a long time: Cassia seed, hawthorn, lotus leaf, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, and red yeast. Persisting every day yields excellent results. In terms of exercise, it is appropriate to engage in whole-body aerobic exercise, including brisk walking, jogging, sit ups, basketball, table tennis, and other activities. It is recommended to maintain a daily routine of between half an hour and an hour, preferably combining the two, and avoid overexertion. Traditional Chinese medicine has certain advantages in the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver. On the basis of syndrome differentiation, it can achieve good results if it is combined with the application of multiple treatments such as invigorating the spleen and removing phlegm, supplementing qi and activating blood circulation, clearing away heat and soothing the liver, and digestion. Traditional Chinese medicine decoction selected based on syndrome differentiation and traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations Dahuang Lidan Tablet have achieved good results in the treatment of this disease. For the type of liver stagnation and spleen deficiency, the recipe of Shugan Jiangzhi Decoction is selected; Phlegm blood stasis type, choose the formula Daotan Tang and Xuefu Zhuyu Tang with modifications; Damp heat type of gallbladder and stomach, choose modified Warm Gallbladder Decoction; Liver and spleen blood stasis type, select the formula of Tiaoying Yin with modifications; The syndrome of liver and kidney yin deficiency requires consistent decoction with modifications.