Besides being beneficial for the heart, strength training also can reduce accumulation of fat within the liver and improve blood glucose regulation, says a study on mice. The study, led by a team from the University of Campinas in Brazil, showed strength training can reduce fat hold on within the liver and improve blood glucose management in obese mice, even without overall loss of body weight.
The findings recommend strength training could also be a quick and effective strategy for reducing the risk of fatty liver disease and polygenic disease in obese people.
"That these improvements in metabolism occurred over a short time even though the overall amount of body fat was unchanged, it suggests strength training can have positive effects on health and directly have an effect on liver's function and metabolism," aforementioned Pereira de Moura from the varsity. "It could also be a more practical, non-drug and low-priced strategy for rising health," she said.
During the research, published in the Journal of Endocrinology, the team investigated the results of strength-based exercise on liver fat accumulation, blood glucose regulation and markers of inflammation in obese mice. Obese mice performed strength training over a short time, the equivalent of that in humans wouldn't be enough to vary their body fat composition.
After this short- term training, the mice had less fatty livers, reduced levels of inflammatory markers and their blood glucose regulation improved, despite no change in their overall body weight.
These health benefits would be even more effective if, in the middle of the reduction of body fat, she added. Based on these findings, obese people may well be directed to extend their activities through strength training, however, must always initial consult their primary care physician.
More investigation is required in both animals and other people to know how liver metabolism is affected by strength training. Obesity, a growing health epidemic globally, ends up in inflammation within the liver and impairs its ability to control blood glucose. It increases the risk of Type-2 diabetes and its associated complications, including nerve and kidney damage.