Fatty liver disease is a condition that usually affects older individuals who have had long term elevations in cholesterol, poor diets, or have alcoholic liver disease. But in the last decade, both practitioners and researchers are finding more and more adolescents with fatty liver disease (non-alcoholic type).
As obesity is on the rise, high cholesterol and triglycerides follow suit. This abnormal amount of fat in the diet and body puts a high burden on the liver, which then resorts to storing extra fat and cholesterol around its cells.
In serious cases fatty liver can lead to cirrhosis, or fibrosis of the liver. Cirrhosis can lead to liver failure or liver cancer, and an early death.
There is no drug to treat fatty liver once it has developed, though diet and exercise can help the liver clean itself up, as long as cirrhosis has not set in.
A recent study in adolescents examined the effect regular exercise had on fatty liver. More than 70 obese teenagers were placed on a diet and exercise regimen for 12 weeks.
The regimen consisted of nutrition classes and two one hour workout sessions per week.
Scans of their livers were obtained pre and post study period. Weight, body mass index, and fat surrounding other organs was also measured.
More than 50 percent of the participants had fatty liver on one or both sides at onset of the study. After the 12 week program, this number was reduced to only 29 percent.
Other positive changes were observed in the teens, including weight loss, lower BMI, and less fat around other organs.
The authors had two main points to make in their conclusion. First, it should be alarming that the rate of fatty liver in teenagers who are obese is above 50 percent. Second, diet and exercise changes (even modest ones such as in this study) are significantly effective at reversing fatty liver disease.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on December 27, 2006 11:19 PM
