A liver disease that kills faster than most cancers has few options beyond a transplant. A new partnership aims to change where care happens. #longevity# #liverdisease# #liverhealth# #transplant# #healthcare#

🇪🇺🎗️ LIVER CANCER AWARENESS MONTH 2026 LIVER CANCER: EUROPE CANNOT AFFORD TO WAIT UNTIL PREVENTION BECOMES TREATMENT. What if one of our greatest opportunities in cancer prevention is already within reach? The IARC/WHO figures reveal a devastating reality: 🌍 843,045 new liver cancer cases worldwide. 🌍 732,489 deaths worldwide. 🇪🇺 87,034 new cases in Europe. 🇪🇺 76,122 deaths in Europe. Annual deaths represent approximately 87% of new cases globally — not a patient survival rate, but a striking illustration of the disease burden. 🟠 AROUND 60% OF LIVER CANCER CASES WORLDWIDE MAY BE PREVENTABLE. According to the 2025 Lancet Commission, addressing modifiable risk factors could prevent approximately six in ten cases. This is a medical, economic and political responsibility. 🦠 Hepatitis B: vaccination and antiviral treatment. 🦠 Hepatitis C: curative treatment for most patients. 🦠 Hepatitis D: testing everyone with HBV and improving access to new therapies. 🧡 MASLD/MASH: earlier management of obesity, diabetes and metabolic risks. 🍷 Alcohol-related liver disease: prevention and timely, non-stigmatising care. 🧬 Rare liver diseases: early diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. 💶 THE COST OF INACTION IS ENORMOUS. An economic analysis cited by the European Commission estimated an annual liver cancer burden of €4 BILLION across 31 European countries based on 2018 data. Hospitalisations, imaging, surgery, transplantation, innovative medicines, monitoring, caregiving and lost productivity create enormous costs for patients, families and healthcare systems. 🔬 INNOVATION IS CHANGING THE FUTURE. Immunotherapies, targeted medicines and combination treatments are improving outcomes for eligible patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Cholangiocarcinoma Early detection can also enable potentially curative treatments, including surgery, ablation and transplantation. But the greatest success is preventing cancer before it develops. ❤️ PREVENTION GOES BEYOND THE LIVER. Addressing obesity, diabetes, metabolic dysfunction and harmful alcohol consumption can also reduce cardiovascular, kidney and other health risks, including heart attacks and strokes. As MASLD/MASH becomes an increasingly important public health challenge, Europe needs integrated prevention rather than fragmented disease-specific approaches. 🇪🇺 FROM EUROPEAN POLICY TO ACTION. Europe's Beating Cancer Plan, the EU Safe Hearts Plan, EU4Health and European liver health initiatives must translate into accessible screening, early diagnosis, referral pathways and equitable treatment. Through the European Liver Screening Tour 2026 and European Liver Screening Week ELPA demonstrates how prevention and early risk identification can reach communities. But sustainable national programmes and political investment remain essential. @OliverVarhelyi @hans_kluge @WHO_Europe @EU_Health

#HepatitisB# and #HepatitisC# can lead to serious liver disease and are major causes of #LiverCancer#. The good news? Testing can help catch these infections early—even if you feel healthy. Talk to your health care provider about getting tested. Prevention starts with knowing your status: #LCAM# #LiverCancer# #LiverCancerAwareness#

GLP-1 Shows Promise for Patients with Advanced Fatty Liver Disease Clinical trial of semaglutide drug is first to show improvement in liver scarring among patients with early cirrhosis 🔬Efficacy and safety of zalfermin co-administered with semaglutide in participants with fibrosis and cirrhosis due to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: a phase 2, dose-ranging, double-blind, randomised controlled trial

Novo Nordisk $NVO just released real-world data linking its weight loss drug Wegovy to better results in adults with fatty liver disease People who started Wegovy saw bigger drops in liver damage markers and weight over 1 year than people who didn't Wegovy also did better than Madrigal Pharmaceuticals $MDGL fatty liver drug Rezdiffra on some liver and heart health markers

A Seat at the Table Is Not Enough. Patients Must Be Heard. At #UEGWeek2026# in Barcelona, Marko Korenjak, President of the European Liver Patients’ Association (#ELPA#), delivered a powerful message at the European Alcohol Policy Alliance (#EHAA#) session. Being in the room is not the same as being heard.” Meaningful patient involvement means more than participation. It requires stigma-free dialogue, early engagement, genuine listening and accountability — ensuring that patient experiences shape real decisions. From alcohol-related harm and liver disease prevention to research and public health policy, lived experience must become meaningful evidence that drives change. A seat at the table is only the beginning. The real impact comes when patients' voices change decisions. #ELPA# #UEGWeek2026# #PatientAdvocacy# #PatientVoice# #LiverHealth# #AlcoholPolicy# #PatientInvolvement# #Prevention# @UEGJournal

Move Over, Lycopene. Tomatoes’ Secret Sauce May Be Phytoene New study suggests a lesser-known compound in tomatoes may help protect against fatty liver disease, which affects more than 1 in 3 American adults

I'm a cardiologist. Curcumin may be one of the most legitimately promising anti-inflammatory compounds available — and the exact form that works best is the one with documented cases of liver injury. That tension is the whole story, and almost nobody tells it honestly. Let me give you both halves. First, why the form matters more than the compound. Standard turmeric and cheap curcumin are almost pharmacologically useless. Absorption is dismal, the liver metabolizes it within minutes, and blood levels barely register. Most people taking turmeric capsules are essentially taking an expensive yellow placebo. Phytosomal curcumin — curcumin bound to phospholipids, the best-studied being Meriva — changes that completely. A randomized crossover trial in the Journal of Natural Products found 29-fold higher total absorption compared to standard curcuminoids. That single fact explains why decades of curcumin research looked underwhelming. We were testing a molecule that never reached the bloodstream. What the absorbed form actually does. It works upstream, at the genetic level, by downregulating NF-κB — the master switch controlling inflammatory gene expression. Downstream of that: reduced TNF-alpha, IL-6, and COX-2. TNF-alpha is the one I find most interesting. It's a central driver of "inflammaging" — the chronic low-grade inflammation that accelerates biological aging. It's the same target as the TNF-inhibitor drugs used in rheumatoid arthritis, which observational data has linked to substantially lower Alzheimer's risk. Lowering TNF-alpha through a supplement is not the same as a biologic drug. But the pathway is real, and it's the right pathway. The human evidence that impressed me most. This isn't cell culture. In a multicenter randomized trial, 52 biopsy-proven MASH patients received Meriva 2g/day or placebo for 72 weeks. Biopsy-proven. Seventy-two weeks. That's a serious trial design for a supplement. Additional randomized trials in NAFLD have shown reductions in ALT, AST, cholesterol, triglycerides, waist circumference, and liver volume. As a cardiologist, that matters — fatty liver and cardiovascular disease share the same metabolic root, and ALT is one of the most underread markers on a standard panel. Now the part the enthusiasts leave out. The NIH's LiverTox database documents several dozen cases of clinically apparent acute liver injury attributed to turmeric products — and it specifically implicates the high-bioavailability forms. There was an outbreak of acute hepatitis with jaundice in Italy traced to enhanced-absorption curcumin. Sit with the irony: the reason these formulations work is the same reason they can hurt you. You made a poorly absorbed compound highly absorbed. You did not merely increase the benefit. You increased the dose the liver actually sees. A genetic susceptibility has been identified — an HLA variant that appears to predispose certain people. Most will never have a problem. Some will. And a note on piperine. Many products add black pepper extract to boost absorption. It works — by inhibiting the liver enzymes that clear the compound. That same mechanism affects how your liver clears your other medications. If you take anything metabolized hepatically, this matters. Meriva achieves its absorption through phospholipids rather than enzyme blockade, which is one argument in its favor. So where do I land? This is one of the few natural compounds with genuine randomized human data hitting a mechanism that matters. I take it seriously. But treat it like a drug, because pharmacologically that is what an enhanced-absorption formulation is. Get a baseline ALT and AST before starting, and recheck at 8-12 weeks. That single step converts an unmonitored risk into a managed one, and virtually nobody does it. Skip it entirely if you have existing liver disease, gallbladder disease, or bile duct obstruction. Curcumin stimulates gallbladder contraction and can worsen biliary colic. Be cautious if you're on blood thinners — it has antiplatelet effects. And stop immediately for dark urine, yellowing eyes, right upper quadrant pain, or unexplained fatigue. The lesson underneath this is bigger than curcumin. We've been trained to believe "natural" means "safe," so we skip the monitoring we'd never skip with a prescription. But a supplement engineered for 29-fold absorption isn't a spice anymore. It's pharmacology in a capsule with no oversight. The compound may genuinely help you. Just check your liver while it does.