exercise lowers the ALT level?

[tony5]

hi

just a question, i have been diagnosed with fatty liver disease, even though i am working towards  reversing it, the dr and i noticed, everytime i go on the running machine and check my LFT a few days later or even on the day, the ALT goes down to almost normal levels?

is this typical of fatty liver disease or has no one seen this before? why would exercising lower the ALT level soo dramatically in a day or 2 or even on the day? does this mean the fat is burning off the liver allowing it to release lesser ALT into the blood streaam, or have i got this wrong, obviously healthy eating and exercise are always good for the liver, bur are these findings typical for every kind of hepititis? or simply fatty liver?


thank you

[Vijay_Monu]

Yes avoiding oily food brisk walking for 30mins daily will reduce fatty liver.

[Reruho]

About 7 years ago my liver enzymes (AST and LST) were high and my doctor told me I had NAFLD. He told me to go on a diet and start exercising. I followed his advice. I started walking my dogs 3 times a day and lost 25 pounds. Within 6 months my liver enzymes were back in the normal range.
Reta

[ill13632]

here's an article how coffee my prevent alcoholic cirrhosis-
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/166/11/1190

[ill13632]

yeah thanks so much!  so if I have fatty liver disease should I exercise intensely at a high heart rate then or at a lower heart rate or do weight lifting?  
will antioxidants like CoQ10 and milk thistle, choline, biotin help or do they stress and damage the liver?

[tony5]

very interesting article, makes alot of sense there.

thank you so much mike


tony

[mikesimon]

Maybe you are onto something - though I really don't think it's as simple as exercise burns fat in the liver which results in an immediate reduction in ALT.

I found this article regarding obese patients with fatty liver. It suggests that aerobic exercise reduces oxidative damage and curbs liver damage.

Aerobic Exercise May Curb Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease:

"WEDNESDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- Aerobic exercise may slow the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in obese people, finds a new study.

This type of workout appears to benefit these patients by increasing their metabolism and easing the oxidative damage caused by the liver disease, said the Cleveland Clinic researchers.

Their study included 15 obese people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease who walked on a treadmill at 85 percent of their maximum heart rate for one hour a day for seven consecutive days. The exercise increased the participants' insulin sensitivity and improved the liver's polyunsaturated lipid index (PUI)-- believed to be a marker of liver health -- by 84 percent.

These improvements were linked to an increase in the hormone adiponectin, which plays a role in the body's response to insulin and has anti-inflammatory properties that help reduce the risk of heart attack, the researchers said. Low levels of adiponectin are common in obese people.

The study is slated to be presented this week at the American Physiological Society's Experimental Biology meeting in Washington, D.C.

"We were able to correlate changes in adiponectin with PUI and the body's resting energy metabolism," Jacob M. Haus, a research fellow in the pathobiology department at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, said in an APS news release. "The latter gives us an indication of whether carbohydrate or fat is being metabolized. After exercise, the participants were burning more fat."

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which affects 2 to 5 percent of Americans, is excess fat and inflammation in the liver. When severe, it can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure or liver cancer, according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse.

"We like to think of exercise as medicine," he added.

Burning fat can help protect against oxidative damage and therefore the damage of fatty liver disease, he explained.

Because the study is small and being presented at a medical meeting, the findings should be considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal and confirmed in larger studies."

See:  http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=143077

However it works I hope you continue to see improvement.

Be well,
Mike

[tony5]

hi

thanks for the reply,

The studies i have seen (just had a search for them) on raised ALT levels due to exercise are all using people who are healthy (with normal ALT levels before exercise) with no fatty liver disease and have maybe healthy diets for a fair test.

In my case, fatty liver disease with persistant mildly raised ALT, im not sure if there have been studies done on this?

i do long runs 30 to 40min jogs at times. I also understand that these play a role in losing weight (losing fat) which i also believe includes fat within the liver?

so if the cause of chronically raised ALT is due to fatty liver disease could it not be possible? so if exercise reduces the fat within the body (including the liver) it would also lower the ALT level as the liver is healing or reversing the fatt disease?

im not 100%, im hoping this would be the pattern for somone with raised ALT due to a fatty liver disease, this way i feel im on the right track  in going for lowering the ALT and that its working.

thanks again








either way,

[mikesimon]

I do not believe that exercise is associated with decreased ALT.
In fact strenuous exercise may increase ALT.
I have no idea why your ALT seems lower following exercise. The one thing I feel certain about is that exercise would not burn the fat off of your liver resulting in a decrease in ALT.

Of course, diet and exercise are always a good idea even in "healthy" people. And, in obese patients with fatty liver, weight loss is a primary treatment approach.

Mike