Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease - discussed under the light of Unani medicine

Abstract

Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is one of the diseases that have evolved lately into a major challenge for gastroenterologists. Although, the term NAFLD has not been familiar to the medical world since long, other conditions resembling the presentation of NAFLD have been there since primitive times. It is a reversible condition of the liver, wherein large vacuoles of triglyceride fat accumulates in liver cells via the process of steatosis, despite any evidence of excessive alcohol consumption. In the developed countries NAFLD is reported to be the most common liver disorder, with a worldwide prevalence of 6-35%, in India its prevalence has been increasing gradually. Unani physicians have described liver as one of the principal organs of the body. It is the primary source of natural faculties, where the functions of digestion, concoction, absorption and excretion are performed, normally temperament of liver is hot and moist which can get converted to cold due to mutable dietary habits, consumption of fatty and cold food in abundance etc. In Unani System of Medicine, NAFLD has not been described as such, but it can be studied under Su'-i-Mizāj Kabid Bārid due to correlation of most of the symptoms. Its management mainly consists of elimination of morbid matter which is accumulated in the liver and correction of Su'-i-Mizāj Kabid Bārid by using drugs having opposite temperament (Ilaj bil zid).

Keywords: Ilaj bil zid; Su’-i-Mizāj Kabid Bārid; NAFLD; Unani medicine.