Twenty percent of young adults in the United States have fatty liver disease.
Posted by The Joe Rogan Experience, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict3 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 55%
The Joe Rogan ExperienceNov 6, 2026
The claim's figure of 20% of young adults with fatty liver disease falls inside the range the sources report for U.S. young adults, but the estimates depend on the age group, survey years and measure used: about 18.5% for ages 12-29 (NHANES 2007-2016), 13.3% for ages 18-30 averaged over 1999-2018 (rising to 19.5% by 2018), and 24% for ages 25-30.
Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… You know, this is what was so popular. This is what's still popular. You know, Republicans, we believe in free choice, but when 38% of kids have pre-diabetes, 45% of teens are overweight or obese, 20% of young adults have fatty liver disease, almost 80% of American adults are obese or overweight, we're beyond a personal choice issue. We have a systemic breakdown, and it's obvious. We have SNAP that's 15% of Americans depend on. …
The Joe Rogan Experience · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The NIDDK reports about 24% of U.S. adults have NAFLD, and a 2025 Jackson Health article cites an unsourced figure of 38% of the population, so the 20% figure for young adults is not uniformly matched across sources.[1][3]
Supports. A NHANES 2007-2016 study estimated NAFLD prevalence at 18.5% among adolescents and young adults aged 12-29, rising to 18.7% at ages 18-24 and 24.0% at ages 25-30.[2][4]
Supports. A NHANES 1999-2018 analysis found 13.31% of U.S. young adults aged 18-30 had NAFLD, with prevalence rising from 9.98% in 1999 to 19.49% in 2018, which is close to 20%.[5]
Context. The 2014 NYT report says at least 20% of U.S. adults have the condition, and the unrated Nourished by Science piece cites a 25-35% range for adults, so the figure depends heavily on the definition and population used.[6][7]
Sources
7 sources: 2 primary, 5 not rated
- 1Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) & NASH - All Content - NIDDKniddk.nih.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 2Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Prevalence Trends Among ...pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 3Why is Liver Disease Rising Among Young People? | Jackson Health Systemjacksonhealth.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 4Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Prevalence Trends Among... : Hepatology Communicationsjournals.lww.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5The growing prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease ...oaepublish.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Threat Grows From Liver Illness Tied to Obesity - The New York Timesarchive.nytimes.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 7Do You Have a Fatty Liver? - Nourished by Sciencenourishedbyscience.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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