To be healthy,World Health Organization recommends adults ages 18-64 get at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week. If you do the math, that’s about 22 minutes a day minimum.
A new study, published in theAmerican Journal of Gastroenterology and conducted by researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine in the United States adds one more argument to integrate these recommendations into one’s lifestyle. The authors state that reaching this duration of exercise may protect against fatty liver disease.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects more than 1 in 10 French people
In France, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD – for non alcoholic fatty liver disease in English) affects nearly 16.7% of the population (24.6% of men and 10.1% of women), according to health insurance. Unlike liver disease caused by excessive alcohol consumption, NAFLD is the result of metabolic syndrome, which is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high levels of triglycerides. Thus, in France, NAFLD affects 79.7% of obese people and 63% of diabetics.
Over time, the disease can lead to even more serious complications such as cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) and cancer. IThere are no approved drugs or cures for this condition. That’s why disease prevention is so important, as is knowing that exercise can reduce liver fat and improve overall physical health and quality of life.
“Our results may give physicians the confidence to prescribe exercise as a treatment for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.says Jonathan Stine, associate professor of medicine and public health sciences and hepatologist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, in a university statement. Brisk walking or light cycling for 1/2 hour a day five times a week is just one example of a program that would meet these criteria”he adds.
150 min of training triples the chances of reducing liver fat
Prof. Stine explains that previous research has failed to determine with certainty the amount of exercise needed to produce clinically meaningful results. With his team, they therefore analyzed 14 previous studies involving a total of 551 patients with NAFLD. They assessed data such as age, sex, body mass index, change in body weight, compliance with exercise protocols and liver fat levels measured by MRI. In order to consider a clinically significant impact, there had to have been a 30% relative reduction in liver fat measured by MRI: the researchers showed that exercise is 3.5 times more likely to produce these results compared to methods conventional care.
In a second analysis, the team determined what the optimal “dose” of exercise was. Their finding: 39% of patients who reach or exceed the equivalent of 150 minutes of weekly brisk walking were able to reach the threshold of a liver considered healthy. Only 26% of those who exercised less than that reached that mark. The results therefore confirm the amounts of exercise recommended by health authorities. Nevertheless, Prof. Stine agrees that more studies are needed in the future to validate these results with even more certainty.