Fatty liver affects 30% of the world’s population and current treatment consists mainly of changing patients’ lifestyle (diet and exercise). High-intensity interval exercise has been shown to be useful in the treatment of fatty liver, but the impact on liver histology (liver injury) has been poorly studied. In this sense, the Journal of Hepatology has published a work that investigates the changes that exercise produces in the liver.
Patients with fatty liver were included, divided into 2 groups: Control (8 patients) and Treatment (16 patients),and were followed for 10 months. Both groups were instructed to reduce 500 calories from their daily food intake. The control group was asked to increase their physical activity. The treatment group received 3 classes per week of high-intensity interval exercise consisting of 4 sessions of 4 minutes of exercise reaching 90-95% of maximum heart rate followed by 3 minutes of recovery.
It was found that the treatment group lost more weight (mean: 7.8 kg) than the control group (1.9 kg). The amount of fat in the liver decreased in both groups. However, in the controls, the rate of histological damage did not change, while it was reduced by 46% in the treated subjects, in whom liver inflammation also decreased by 38%. Finally, a cure of the fatty liver was observed in 56% of the treated patients and in none of the control group.
Recommendations of Dr. Vicente Carreño
The members of the Foundation and Dr. Carreño consider that physical exercise is a fundamental pillar in the treatment of fatty liver. However, we think that the type of exercise practiced in this study (high-intensity intervals) requires control by a personal trainer to avoid cardiovascular complications. Finally, it is important to highlight that the practice of physical exercise in the treatment of fatty liver (even in the absence of weight loss) produces a 20-30% improvement in the activity of the disease.
