Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
For some time, experts have been concerned with the language used in the name “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease”. The term was outdated, referring to what the disease isn’t associated with (alcohol) rather than what it is associated with (metabolic dysfunction, insulin resistance). In addition, they found the terms “alcoholic” and “fatty” to be stigmatising.
A panel of experts, including researchers, healthcare experts, and patient advocates, decided that metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is more appropriate. They also changed the name of the associated condition non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). The emphasis on metabolic dysfunction is important, as many people previously diagnosed with NAFLD had other underlying metabolic conditions.