Reverse Fatty Liver Through Weight Loss

Another great article from LEF Daily News:
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=7908&Section=NUTRITION&source=DHB_090219&key=Body+Title

Reverse fatty liver disease; 9% weight loss can improve it
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- Unrestricted
02-18-09
People with fatty liver disease now have a goal to shoot for as they try to turn their illness around.
In a new study, researchers at St. Louis University found that weight loss of at least 9 percent helped patients reverse non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, more commonly known as fatty liver disease.
The finding will allow doctors to give patients specific weight-loss goals that are likely to improve their livers, researchers say. The results come from a study of the diet drug orlistat (Xenical and Alli), which did not itself improve liver disease.
"It's a helpful study because we can now give patients a benchmark -- a line they need to cross to see improvement," said Dr. Brent Neuschwander-Tetri, a hepatologist at the St. Louis University Liver Center and one of the study researchers.
His work followed 50 patients with NASH, a disease characterized by excessive fat, which causes inflammation and damage to the liver. The aim of the study was to see whether orlistat, which limits fat absorption, along with calorie restriction could lead to weight loss and improve liver disease in overweight patients with NASH.
The patients followed a 1,400-calorie-per-day diet. Half also received orlistat for 36 weeks, at which time another liver biopsy was performed.
Researchers found that patients who lost at least 5 percent of their body weight over nine months showed improvement in insulin resistance and fat accumulation in the liver. However, those who lost 9 percent or more of their weight showed actual reversal of their liver damage.
The findings about the drug were less clear. Those in the orlistat group lost 8.3 percent of their body weight while those in the other group lost 6 percent, a difference that is not statistically significant. Orlistat did not itself improve liver enzymes, insulin resistance or liver damage.
"The bottom line is that weight loss can help improve fatty liver disease," Neuschwander-Tetri said. "Now we know how much weight loss is needed for improvement, and we can give patients specific goals as they work to improve their health."
The study was published in last month's issue of Hepatology. It was funded by Roche Pharmaceuticals, which makes orlistat. To see more of the Belleville News-Democrat, Ill., or to subscribe, visit http://www.belleville.com. Copyright (c) 2009, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.