Practicing a sport intensely would reduce liver problems caused by excessive consumption of alcohol, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Biomolecules. Conclusions obtained in rats.
Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the United States conducted an experiment to find out if practicing a sport had a positive effect on the damage caused to the liver by alcohol consumption. For 6 weeks, they regularly administered alcohol to sports rats. A control group of sporting rats did not drink alcohol.
At the end of the study, the alcoholic rats developed clumps of fatty tissue in their livers. However, alcohol exposure did not cause liver inflammation and did not significantly increase the rats’ blood fatty acid, triglyceride, insulin and glucose levels. .
Intensive sport would protect the liver from damage caused by alcohol
“This is important because chronic alcohol ingestion can reduce insulin effectiveness over time, leading to high blood insulin and high sugar levels,” commented Jamal Ibdah, responsible for the study. “With chronic use, we expected to see much stronger levels compared to the control group, but surprisingly the levels were quite similar.”
New research is needed to establish the protective effects of intensive sport in the presence of chronic alcohol consumption, and to apprehend these results on humans.
But this discovery which could make it possible to develop new therapies to treat the harmful effects of alcohol on the liver. Indeed, this damage such as hepatic steatosis or cirrhosis may be irreversible.
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