Doing 150 minutes of moderate physical exercise reduces the level of fat in the liver.
- Steatosis is an accumulation of fat in cells which normally contain little or no fat, such as the liver for example.
- Fatty liver disease is diagnosed when the fat level is more than 5% of the liver.
- About 220,000 French people are said to be suffering from advanced liver disease with steatosis, inflammation and pre-cirrhotic fibrosis or cirrhosis.
To stay healthy, health professionals and institutions recommend at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week. If you follow this instruction, your liver will thank you. A study from Pennsylvania State University (Penn State College of Medicine) shows that exercise reduces the fat present in the organ.
Fatty liver disease: physical exercise fights NAFLD
The American researchers wanted to examine the link between physical training and an improvement in liver fat. For this, they reviewed 14 studies on the subject. This represents 551 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD for “Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease”). The team assessed data from all the works, including age, sex, body mass index, weight, adherence to the exercise program and liver fat levels measured by MRI .
Independent of weight loss, the study found that physical activity was 3.5 times more likely to induce a greater than or equal to 30% reduction in liver fat compared to standard care.
“Our results may give physicians the confidence to prescribe exercise as a treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease”says Professor Jonathan Stine, lead author of the study published in the scientific journal American Journal of Gastroenterology.
What is the right dose of exercise to reduce fat in the liver?
In a second analysis, the scientists sought to determine was the “dose“Optimal exercise to achieve the most significant drop in liver fat levels. The answer is 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly, such as brisk walking.
39% of patients who were prescribed this exercise program showed a reduction in liver fat, compared to only 26% of those who were instructed to do lesser amounts of physical activity.
According to Pr Stine, when the 150 min of moderate exercise was performed, the decreases in fat in the liver measured by MRI showed similar rates to those reported by drugs that block fat production.
The expert explains in his communicated : “Having a target amount of physical activity to aim for will be helpful for healthcare professionals to develop personalized approaches, as it helps patients change their lifestyle and become more physically active.” He then adds: “Physicians who counsel patients with NAFLD should recommend this amount of moderate activity (150 min) to their patients. Brisk walking or cycling for 1/2 hour a day five times a week is only an example of a program that would meet these criteria.”
Information that makes you think when you know that in 20% of cases, non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis generates hepatic inflammation which can be the cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer.
