Human fatty liver disease eased by carbohydrate-restricted diet
Reduced carbohydrate intake results in fast and sizeable reductions of liver fat and other cardiometabolic risk factors in individuals suffering from obesity and fatty liver disease. This is shown in a new paper by Adil Mardinoglu (KTH/SciLifeLab) and colleagues, enabled by the SciLifeLab Clinical Biomarkers unit.
In the ten patients subjected to a restricted diet that involved eating a lower amount of carbohydrates whilst retaining their total calorie consumption, the researchers demonstrated decreases of liver fat, reductions in hepatic lipid synthesis, large increases in markers of lipid breakdown and rapid increases in folate-producing Streptococcus bacteria in the gut.
The present study investigated cases of fatty liver disease not caused by alcohol consumption. However, the results opens up possibilities for treatment of alcoholic fatty liver disease as well.
Read the full paper in Cell Metabolism
