Comment:
It is a general consensus that exercise training is an important part of the management of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Yet, it is not known what the exact effects are, and whether exercise training provides clinically meaningful improvements in liver fat. This information is vital, as due to the fact that there is no current effective cure for NAFLD, lifestyle modifications are the key point of management.
This aims to prevent end-stage liver disease and liver cancer. Regular exercise training aims to improve liver fat as well as general physical fitness, body composition, vascular health and overall quality of life in NASH and NAFLD patients.
Therefore, there is a clear unmet area of research regarding the true effectiveness of exercise treatment, and the lack of consensus on the optimal programme of physical activity. This study found that exercise training is 3.5 times more likely to achieve clinically meaningful treatment response in liver fat in comparison to standard clinical care of NAFLD. This improvement is also found to be independent of significant weight loss for the patient.
This review by Stine JG et al. aimed to understand the effectiveness of exercise training in NAFLD.
Key learnings
This study provides information on understanding why prescribing exercise to NASH and NAFLD patients is vital. However, further research is needed to directly understand the link between different doses of exercise and disease improvement.