Study: Your Liver Wants Exercise

Here is a study we can drink to. Issues with the liver are not always related to alcohol, but in fact can stem from either being overweight or genetics. There’s a common condition called Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and it can, down the line, lead to cirrhosis. Mark G of Cardio High has NAFLD – which explains why he only drinks once or twice a month.

But a new study in China shows that exercise may be the easiest way to reduce symptoms and metrics related to NAFLD.

Researchers took 220 obese adults between the ages of 40 and 65 and placed them into three different groups. One group didn’t do anything different, one group exercised moderately for twelve months and another group exercised intensely for six months and then moderately for six months.

What that meant, according to this article, was jogging “on a treadmill for 30 minutes, 5 days per week, at an intensity equal to 65-80 percent of maximum predicted heart rate (That’s our green zone). After 6 months, they switched to a moderate level of activity. At this level they walked briskly (about 120 steps per minute) for 30 minutes, 5 days per week. This was about 45-55 percent of maximum heart rate.”

And by the end, while it seemed like both moderate and intense exercise didn’t seem that different — the groups who actually got physical activity had fallen significantly when it came to risks for NAFLD.

But if you up your workouts — and increase your booze intake — you might undo the positive impacts on the liver. So try to keep your alcohol consumption to 1-2 drinks per day and don’t slack on the exercise.

-Shane M