Diabetics with fatty livers could benefit from diet rich in soy protein

Sep 10 2005

According to a group of researchers from Mexico they have discovered that a diet rich in soy protein may alleviate fatty liver, a disease which often accompanies diabetes.

The high levels of insulin and insulin-resistance that accompany diabetes, are often associated with fatty liver or hepatic steatosis, an untreatable condition that can lead to chronic liver disease and death.

The condition causes large lipid-filled compartments to accumulate in the cells of the liver due to an increase in the production of fatty acids, with the result that the liver becomes enlarged.

Dr. Nimbe Torres, of the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion in Mexico, used prior research that had indicated that eating soy protein reduces lipid production and prevents hyperinsulinemia (the loss of effectiveness of insulin),as a basis for his work.

Dr. Torres investigated the effects of a diet high in soy protein on the development of fatty liver associated with diabetes.

She fed diabetic rats that develop hyperinsulinemia and hepatic steatosis, a diet of soy protein for 160 days, and found that the consumption of soy protein prevented the accumulation of triglycerides and cholesterol in the liver, despite the development of obesity and hyperinsulinemia in the rats.

She says that feeding rats a soy-rich diet, reduced the amount of fatty acid in their liver by not only reducing lipid production, but also by increasing its breakdown.

Although further research is needed, Dr. Torres believes that consuming soy protein could very well reduce insulin resistance, renal damage, and fatty liver, and improve quality of life.

The details of their findings appear in the September issue of the Journal of Lipid Research, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal.