In overweight adults with fatty liver disease, the more fat there is in the liver, the more sugar the liver tends to make, and this link is pretty strong even when considering other factors like body size.

When overweight people with fatty liver disease eat fewer carbs and calories, they lose weight and belly fat, but their body's ability to handle sugar doesn't really change.

For overweight people with fatty liver disease not caused by alcohol, eating fewer carbs and calories helps their liver handle sugar better by 22%, based on a small test group.

For overweight people with a fatty liver condition not caused by alcohol, eating fewer carbs and calories might lower some fat levels in their blood, but it doesn't seem to change other cholesterol or sugar levels much, according to a small study.

If you have a bigger waist, eating more processed foods might be more strongly linked to fat building up in your liver.

Eating a lot of fat and a lot of sugar together is worse for your liver than eating just fat or just sugar — they team up to cause more damage.