|
|
|
2007-8-31 15:23:10 |
|
American diet featured with high fat food and high fructose corn syrup may cause severe liver conditions in sedentary individuals, according to a new study by researchers from Saint Louis University. Brent Tetri, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University Liver Center, and colleagues studied in a laboratory animal model the effects of a diet with 40 percent fat and high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener commonly used in soda and some fruit juices. In the 16-week study, mice were allowed to eat whatever and whenever they wanted to eat. The high fat content in the mouse diet was the same as what can be found in a typical McDonald's meal and the amount of high fructose corn syrup was equivalent to about 8 cans a day in a human diet. The mice were kept sedentary with a very limited amount of activity. The results presented this week at the Digestive Diseases Week meeting in Washington D.C. showed that it took only four weeks for liver enzymes to increase and for glucose intolerance, the beginning of type II diabetes, to begin. Tetri says early evidence suggests that fructose actually suppresses fullness while fiber-rich foods cause a sensation of fullness. "A high-fat and sugar-sweetened diet compounded by a sedentary lifestyle will have severe repercussions for your liver and other vital organs," he says. "Fatty liver disease now affects about one of every eight children in this country. The good news is that it is somewhat reversible ? but for some it will take major changes in diet and lifestyle." |
