Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have discovered that
a diet with high levels of fructose, sucrose, and of trans-fats not only
increases obesity, but also leads to significant fatty liver disease with scar
tissue.
The study, which was conducted with scientists from the Metabolic
Disease Institute at the University of Cincinnati, is published online Wednesday
in the journal Hepatology.
The study was conducted in mice, some of which
were fed a normal diet of rodent chow and some a 16-week diet of fructose and
sucrose-enriched drinking water and trans-fat solids. Their liver tissue was
then analyzed for fat content, scar tissue formation ( fibrosis), and the
biological mechanism of damage. This was done by measuring reactive oxygen
stress, inflammatory cell type and plasma levels of oxidative stress markers,
which are known to play important roles in the development of obesity-related
liver disease and its progression to end-stage liver disease.
The
investigators found that mice fed the normal calorie chow diet remained lean and
did not have fatty liver disease. Mice fed high calorie diets (trans-fat alone
or a combination of trans-fat and high fructose) became obese and had fatty
liver disease.
"Interestingly, it was only the group fed the combination
of trans-fat and high fructose which developed the advanced fatty liver disease
which had fibrosis," says Rohit Kohli, the study's main author. "This same group
also had increased oxidative stress in the liver, increased inflammatory cells,
and increased levels of plasma oxidative stress markers."
Kohli said
Fructose consumption accounts for approximately 10.2 percent of calories in the
average diet in the United States and has been linked to many health problems,
including obesity, cardiovascular disease and liver disease. He hopes to further
investigate the mechanism of liver injury caused by high fructose and sucrose
enriched drinking water and study a therapeutic intervention of antioxidant
supplementation.
Antioxidants are natural defenses against oxidative
stress and may reverse or protect against advanced liver damage
Par
poiloi le jeudi 24 juin 2010
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