A good sports habit could help patients fight against fatty liver disease. It is more effective than medical treatment.
What is fatty liver disease?
Many people have non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH in English. This disease is characterized by an accumulation of fat in the liver and inflammation of it. Thus, according to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, more than 200,000 people are said to be affected in France. Usually, these kinds of symptoms appear in alcoholics.
Nevertheless, if it is not related to alcohol, it is mainly people with type 2 diabetes who suffer from it. If left untreated, this disease can increase the risk of cancer. Also, the Penn State College of Medicine has done research on how to fight fatty liver disease. A name also given to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
Meta-analysis on how to fight fatty liver disease
Hepatic fat is fat that accumulates in the liver. According to researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine, a good dose of regular physical activity may well lower the rate of this fat. To reach this conclusion, they did a meta-analysis, that is to say the combination of several studies.
So, researchers at this institution combined data from 14 studies of 551 patients with fatty liver disease. The objective was then to obtain results that can be described as “clinically significant”. And the least we can say is that the data was not disappointing. Indeed, physical activity would be three and a half times more effective than standard clinical treatments in the fight against fatty liver disease.
A sports frequency necessary to fight against fatty liver disease
Exercising is not enough to significantly reduce the level of hepatic fat in the liver. Indeed, it must be done at a certain frequency per week. So, the results showed significant improvements for patients doing 150 minutes of walking weekly. This research has therefore made it possible to demonstrate the effectiveness of this activity in the fight against fatty liver disease.
In effect, doctors can now suggest this frequency of physical activity as an alternative or in addition to clinical treatments. Moreover, Jonathan Stine, professor of medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center confirms it. It takes at least half an hour of brisk walking or cycling a day, five times a week to be effective.