High GI diet's make fatty liver epidemic a very real threat

Sep 24 2007

According to a recent study, following a high Glycemic Index (GI) diet may increase a persons risk of fatty liver disease.

The Glycemic Index is an indication of how quickly a food releases glucose from starch; the higher the GI, the faster the food releases glucose and experts believe that the fast release of sugars from foods can adversely affect the body and trigger certain serious diseases.

High GI foods include many processed breakfast cereals, white bread, white rice, potatoes, sugars and dates.

Low GI foods include most vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grain products.

The researchers led by Dr. David Ludwig and colleagues from the Children's Hospital in Boston conducted a study using mice.

The mice were fed either a diet with high GI foods or a diet with low GI foods, but both diets contained the same amounts of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates.

After six months on these diets both groups of mice gained the same amount of weight but there was one difference; the mice on the high GI diet had twice the amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers than those on the low GI diet, who had normal amounts of fat throughout their bodies and blood and livers.

Fat buildup in the liver, or fatty liver, is usually symptomless, but it increases the risk for liver inflammation, which can progress to hepatitis and, in some cases, liver failure.

Other research has also suggested the same and this most recent study adds to the evidence which suggests that high GI food is a risk factor for fatty liver.

Experts suspect that diets rich in rapidly-digested carbohydrates not only expand waistlines, but may also cause fatty liver, a condition that can lead to liver failure and death.

The findings of this study suggest that fatty liver disease which is on the rise in Americans as a result of the obesity epidemic may be preventable and possibly treatable through dietary changes.

Ludwig and his team are now planning another trial to determine if changing the diet can reverse fatty liver in overweight children using the conventional treatment for the condition ...... a low-fat diet.

Dr. Ludwig says fatty liver is a silent but dangerous epidemic, and is as likely to explode into our consciousness as type 2 diabetes did in the 1990s.

Dr. Ludwig is the director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children's Hospital in Boston.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases and the Charles H. Hood Foundation.

The research is published in the current issue of the journal Obesity.