DUBLIN (Dispatches) -- A new study from Trinity College Dublin highlights that fitness may be a more important clinical endpoint for improvement in patients with fatty liver diseases during exercise trials, rather than weight loss.
Metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a condition characterised by a build up of fat in the liver. The liver is central to a suite of vital processes in the body including digestion, blood clotting and energy production.
The Trinity study is the first to demonstrate significant improvements in biopsy-measured liver outcomes in a MAFLD cohort following an exercise-only intervention, without clinically significant weight loss. The study also demonstrates that improvements in biopsy-measured liver outcomes were significantly related to improvements in fitness levels. The study also found however, that when patients were followed up longitudinally, none of the benefits of the exercise intervention were sustained.
The study is unique in that it used repeat biopsies in MAFLD patients during an exercise-only intervention.