High Fat-Sugar Diets May Cause Liver Ills
Posted on: Tuesday, 4 October 2005, 15:00 CDT
Johns Hopkins researchers in Baltimore say mice fed diets high in fat and sugar developed immune system abnormalities in their livers.
The abnormalities included reduced numbers of NKT cells, indicating such diets may contribute to obesity-related liver disease.
A previous study of leptin-deficient obese mice noted depleted levels of NKT cells. But since obese humans have increased leptin levels, researchers weren't sure if their findings in mice were relevant to human fatty liver disease.
To address that question, researchers fed wild-type mice commercial diets with different nutritional contents for four to 12 weeks. They found the mice on high fat diets gained significantly more weight than mice on normal diets and developed fatty livers.
Preliminary studies suggest hepatic NKT cell numbers remain constant before high fat-fed mice develop significant steatosis after consuming the high fat diet for one week, the authors report, adding the results also showed high fat diets increased production of hepatic pro-inflammatory cytokine.
The Johns Hopkins scientists said their study shows high-fat diets correlate to a chronic inflammatory state in the liver, which promotes chronic liver disease.
The research appears in the journal Hepatology.
Source: United Press International
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