UK: "fivefold increase in liver disease for those aged between 35 and 55 over the past decade"

Obesity triggers a 'tidal wave' of cirrhosis cases

There has been a fivefold increase in liver disease for those aged between 35 and 55 over the past decade

"Jude Oben had grim news for a patient last week. The consultant liver expert told the 60-year-old man that he had cirrhosis – for the second time in his life. Only four years ago Oben's patient had required a liver transplant after his first bout of cirrhosis, a condition he had contracted because he was obese.

"Unfortunately my patient continued to overeat and remained obese," said Oben, a hepatologist based at St Thomas' hospital in London. "As a result, he contracted cirrhosis again. Sadly, I had to tell him that this time it was very unlikely he would be given another liver."

Oben's patient is one of a "tidal wave" of cases of cirrhosis, triggered by obesity, that threatens to sweep through hospitals across the UK."