Taiwanese (Chinese) surgeon Jiang Kunjun reminded: “Many drinks have good effects but must be used in moderation. If you drink too much of them, it will put a burden on the body and even increase the risk of developing many diseases, especially metabolic disorders and cancer.”. While guesting on a recent episode of the online health program “Doctor Is So Hot”Dr. Jiang shared a case of a patient who got liver cancer because of drinking too much fruit juice for a long time.
This patient has just turned 40 years old and is a successful man. According to him, he had very difficult youth years because he was born into a very poor rural family. After many tireless efforts, by the age of 30 he had his own small business.
The first few years were very busy, but then the company gradually stabilized and opened many new branches. This director also has more time to take care of himself. He traveled to many places around the world, enjoyed many delicious dishes, and bought many supplements to take. At the same time, start spending time exercising, going to bed earlier and drinking fruit juice every day.
Until one day, he had to take a break from work because of a stomach ache and his whole body was exhausted. Seeing this, his family immediately called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Doctor Jiang said that at this time he was in a state of severe liver pain, high fever, and pale skin. Computed tomography revealed that the patient’s left liver had a tumor about 1.5 cm in diameter. After a biopsy, it was concluded that the liver tumor was malignant and required surgery to remove. Not to mention, the patient’s fatty liver condition is very severe.
Drinking too much fruit juice can cause liver disease
Although the tumor was not large in size and the surgery was successful, the patient’s mental state was not very good. He and his family kept asking the doctor to check again because they thought they lived a very healthy life, had not touched alcohol for many years, and were not fat at all. Therefore, we cannot accept the result that we have fatty liver disease and progress to liver cancer.
When the medical history analysis was completed, the cause of the disease was “exposed” to be the patient’s habit of drinking fruit juice. Because you want to be good for your health and slow down aging, you should drink it every day, and even have times when you drink it instead of filtered water. Not to mention, he also likes juice from sweet fruits and adds sugar to this drink because of his “sweet tooth”.
When the patient knew the cause, he became even more impatient. He thinks that everyone knows fruit juice is good for health, drinking as much as possible should not cause disease and lead to cancer.
At this time, doctor Jiang Kunjun pointed out that drinking a lot of fruit juice is actually not as good for health as many people mistakenly believe. He said: “When we eat whole fruit, we will be supplemented with fiber, which hinders the absorption of sugar and also helps us feel full faster. But if we juice it, only sugar remains, promoting rapid absorption. Not to mention that Fructose is not good for health in general and the liver in particular.
Furthermore, when juicing, we cannot calculate the amount of fruit consumed. That means a larger amount of fruit is needed to process into juice, thereby leading to a large increase in total sugar intake compared to fresh fruit. Some people also tend to add sugar to make it more delicious and easier to drink when making smoothies and juices, so it is not good for health.
Regarding why fructose in fruit juice causes liver disease, especially fatty liver, Jiang Kunjun explained: “Sugar is the largest source of energy for the body. While glucose is the main energy, directly used to feed cells, fructose needs to be processed by the liver before being used by the body.
While the liver is the only organ of the body capable of converting fructose into glucose. When you have a diet high in calories and fructose, your liver becomes overloaded and begins converting fructose into fat. Therefore, eating a lot of fructose from fruits and fruit juices will cause fat deposition in the liver, potentially leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and hyperlipidemia.
In this patient’s case, he maintained the habit of drinking a lot of fruit juice for a long time, so he developed fatty liver disease. Due to not detecting and treating promptly, the disease progressed to hepatitis and then to liver cancer, skipping the step of cirrhosis.
