A new research by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine has revealed that moderate to intense exercise can significantly reduce liver fat.
According to the scientists, the 150 minutes of moderate to intense aerobic activity per week that is recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can play a crucial role in treating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
The team of scientists analysed 14 previous studies and confirmed that exercise leads to clinically meaningful reductions in liver fat for patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition in which liver fat gets accumulated in people who drink little or no alcohol. However, the cause of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is unknown.
According to scientists, NAFLD affects close to 30 percent of the global population and over time, can lead to cirrhosis, also known as liver scarring, and cancer.
Jonathan Stine, associate professor of medicine and public health sciences, and hepatologist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and his team reviewed 14 studies with a total of 551 subjects who had NAFLD and participated in randomized, controlled trials involving exercise interventions.
The researchers evaluated data pooled from all the studies including age, sex, body mass index, change in body weight, adherence to the exercise regimen and MRI-measured liver fat.
According to Stine, when this amount of exercise was prescribed, clinically relevant reductions in MRI-measured liver fat were achieved. The scientists observed that this reduction was similar to those reported in early-phase NASH drug trials evaluating medications that block fat production.
However, Stine also said more research, particularly controlled randomised trials, are needed to validate their findings. Moreover, they also need to compare the impact of different exercise doses head-to-head.
