Ongoing research
Dr. Stine and colleagues are continuing their research and are directly comparing exercise doses of 750 MET-minutes per week and 1,000 MET-minutes per week to standard clinical care in adults with biopsy-proven nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or the progressive type of NAFLD.
“Importantly, this new study we’re undertaking is designed to mimic a real-world setting in which people’s daily schedules are highly variable,” he said. “Our experienced team of exercise professionals may vary frequency and time of exercise in a week so long as our study participant achieves the prescribed dose of exercise.”
Currently, leading professional societies have not reached consensus regarding the optimal physical activity program for patients with NAFLD, the study authors wrote. However, most clinical guidelines support at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity.
Although more head-to-head clinical trials are needed, exercise training appears to reduce liver fat and provides other benefits, such as cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition changes, and improvements in vascular biology, they wrote.
“The important piece here is that this review shows that there does not have to be weight loss for improvements in fatty liver,” Jill Kanaley, PhD, a professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at University of Missouri–Columbia, said in an interview.
Dr. Kanaley, who wasn’t involved with this study, has researched exercise training among patients with NAFLD. She and her colleagues have found that moderate-and high-intensity exercise can decrease intrahepatic lipid content and NAFLD risk factors, independently of abdominal fat or body mass reductions.
“So often, people get frustrated with exercise if they do not see weight loss,” she said. “But in this case, there seems to be benefits of the exercise, even without weight loss.”
The study was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The authors have received research funding and have had consultant roles with numerous pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Kanaley reported no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.