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Fast food is easy, convenient, and tasty but what are those deep fried chicken parts with a side of mashed potatoes swimming in gravy, or a flamed-broiled burger with processed cheese melting into buns lathered with mayonnaise, a side of oily, salty French fries and a carbonated, sugary beverage to wash it all down, actually doing to our bodies? Research studies have shown that a steady diet of fast food increases your risk of developing type II diabetes, obesity, heart and cardiovascular problems and, puts the liver at serious risk of damage.

The liver is responsible for over 500 vital functions within the human body. One of these functions is the processing of fats in the blood. A diet high in fat, calories and sugar produces fatty build-ups that occur within the liver's cells causing it to become overloaded. (Opting to "super-size" a fast food meal is like ingesting the fat content of 3 sticks of butter!)

While we normally consider liver damage to be an ailment that affects alcoholics or individuals infected with the Hepatitis C virus, the regular consumption of a fast food diet can cause a condition known as "non-alcoholic fatty liver disease." The on-set of "fatty liver disease" has no symptoms but can be discovered through a simple blood test. A spike in liver enzyme levels, most notably, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), signals the potential for future liver damage.

Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary, "Super Size Me," chronicled the health effects of eating nothing but fast foods for an entire month. He gained almost 25 pounds and his blood test results confirmed a sharp increase in ALT levels. Four years later, a Swedish research study gained additional attention when they published their findings on the effects of another 30-day fast food diet involving healthy medical students. The subjects were required to eat at least two fast food meals each day and not engage in any exercise. After the first week, the subject's ALT levels and other liver enzymes sharply increased. At the end of the experiment, one subject had gained 2 more pounds than Spurlock (26.5) and all of the subject's blood tests resulted in an increase in the risk of developing fatty liver disease.

Dr. Brent Tetri, one of the United State's top experts on fatty liver disease and a professor at the St. Louis University Liver Center, is concerned about the alarming increase in the number of physicians treating obesity and elevated liver enzyme cases among young children

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