About High Blood Sugar & Liver Disease

The liver, a filter organ, processes everything that enters the body. However, liver disease causes its manufacturing processes to malfunction. People with high blood sugar often have liver problems because this organ does not know when to produce blood sugar and when to stop production. Conversely, high blood sugar can also be a symptom of underlying liver disease in people.

Sugar Production

• The Salk Institute for Biological Studies indicates that high blood sugar leads to liver disease by forcing the liver to work hard at producing glucose.

Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

• The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases states that high blood sugar is an underlying cause of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or silent liver disease.

Cirrhosis

• The British Liver Trust says that high blood sugar aggravates cirrhosis liver disease in people suffering from this condition.

Glucose Buildup

• The Salk Institute for Biological Studies says that insulin usually tells the brain when not to produce excess sugar in the liver. However, the bodies of people with high blood sugar do not send this signal to the liver, and excess glucose is released into the bloodstream, which can lead to liver disease.

Gluconeogenesis

• Gluconeogenesis, a process carried out by the liver, tells the brain to produce blood sugar when people sleep. When people have liver disease, this process malfunctions.