"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

(Ivanhoe Newswire) — While it’s known being overweight is a big reason for the rising number of children with type 2 diabetes, it’s also increasing the prevalence of another dangerous condition: fatty liver disease. Now, new research reveals a way to prevent fatty liver disease — at leas in mice.

In their study, researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston fed either a high-glycemic or a low-glycemic index diet to mice. The diets were equal in calories, fat, protein and carbohydrates.

High-glycemic foods raise blood sugar levels rapidly and include white bread, white rice and most prepared breakfast cereals, along with popular sugar-filled snacks marketed to kids. Low-glycemic index foods raise blood sugar levels slowly and include most vegetables, fruits, beans and unprocessed grains (i.e. whole wheat bread).

After six months on the diet, the mice in both groups weighed the same, but those fed the high-glycemic index diet had twice as much fat in their bodies, blood and livers.

David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., from Children’s Hospital Boston, was quoted as saying, “Our experiment creates a very strong argument that a high-glycemic index diet causes, and a low-glycemic index diet prevents, fatty liver in humans.” Dr. Ludwig explains as sugar comes out of high-glycemic index food in the body, it causes more insulin to be produced, which in turn tells the body to make and store fat. This fat build-up is especially prevalent in the liver, according to Dr. Ludwig, because the pancreas is the organ that makes insulin. The pancreas then dumps that insulin directly into the liver.

Fatty liver disease generally has no symptoms, but can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure. Dr. Ludwig reports, “This is a silent but dangerous epidemic. Just as type 2 diabetes exploded into our consciousness in the 1990s, so we think fatty liver will in the coming decade.”

Dr. Ludwig reports a low-glycemic index diet would likely prevent and treat fatty liver disease in children. Here’s some more food for thought: If the current obesity trend in the United States continues, 24 percent of children and adolescents will be overweight or obese in the year 2015.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Obesity, 2007;15

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 3:09 pm and is filed under Blood / Hematology, Diabetes, Medical News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.