Reversal of Liver Damage from Weight Loss

A recent publication in Hepatology showed that weight loss of at least nine percent of body weight helped patients reverse a fatty liver disease known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH.

NASH is is the most extreme form of NAFLD, which is regarded as a major cause of cirrhosis of the liver of unknown cause. NAFLD is fatty inflammation of the liver when this is not due to excessive alcohol use.

A diet drug orlistat was tested on half of the fifty patients to determine if orlistat which limits fat absorption can also help in the liver disease.

While orlistat itself was not linked directly to improved liver health, the weight loss was.

It could be due to the 1,400 calorie diet and vitamin E consumption required of the fifty patients.

Patients losing five per cent or more of their weight showed improvement in insulin resistance and steatosis.

While patients losing at least nine percent showed reversal of their liver damage.

Now how says weight loss ain’t beneficial.