Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Hard News Hard Hitting News Source Global Political News

Health News

Resistant starch supplement reduces liver triglycerides in people with fatty liver disease

Resistant starch is a nondigestible fiber that ferments in the large intestine, and consumption of it has previously been shown to have a positive effect on metabolism in animal studies. Now, a 4-month randomized controlled trial in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) indicates that daily intake of resistant starch can alter gut bacteria composition and lower liver triglycerides and liver enzymes associated with liver injury and inflammation. This research appears in the journal Cell Metabolism on September 5.

NAFLD, caused by a buildup of fat in the liver, affects about 30% of the population worldwide. It can lead to severe liver diseases and contribute to other conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Currently, there is no approved medicine available to treat NAFLD. Doctors usually recommend dietary changes and exercise to alleviate the conditions.

“We think it would be very meaningful if we can find an effective approach, maybe through identifying new therapeutic targets, to manage NAFLD,” says Huating Li, the paper’s co-corresponding author at Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital.

Previous research has suggested that NAFLD is associated with perturbed gut microbiota. For example, people with early-stage NAFLD already have an altered gut bacteria profile. So, Li and her team wanted to investigate if resistant starch — a type of fiber known to encourage the growth of beneficial gut bacteria — can help treat NAFLD.

The team recruited 200 NAFLD patients and provided them with a balanced dietary plan designed by a nutritionist. Among them, 100 patients also received a resistant starch powder derived from maize while the other 100 received calorie-matched non-resistant corn starch as a control. They were instructed to drink 20 grams of the starch mixed with 300 mL water (1 ¼ cups) before meals twice a day for 4 months.

After the 4-month experiment, participants who received the resistant starch treatment had nearly 40% lower liver triglyceride levels compared to patients in the control group. In addition, patients who had the resistant starch treatment also saw reductions in liver enzymes and inflammatory factors associated with NAFLD. Importantly, these benefits were still apparent even when statistically adjusted for weight loss.

“Our study shows resistant starch’s impact in improving patients’ liver conditions is independent of body weight changes,” says Yueqiong Ni, the paper’s co-first author at Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital and Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology — Hans-Knöll-Institute (HKI) in Germany.

By analyzing patients’ fecal samples, the team found the resistant starch group had a different microbiota composition and functionality compared with the control. In particular, the treatment-group patients had a lower level of Bacteroides stercoris, a key bacterial species that can affect fat metabolism in the liver through its metabolites. The reduction in B. stercoris is stronglylinked to the decrease in liver triglyceride content, liver enzymes, and metabolites observed.

When the team transplanted fecal microbiota from resistant starch-treatment patients to mice fed with a high-fat high-cholesterol diet, the mice saw a significant reduction in liver weight and liver triglyceride levels and improved liver tissue grading compared with mice that received microbiota from the control group.

“We are able to identify a new intervention for NAFLD, and the approach is effective, affordable and sustainable. Compared with strenuous exercise or weight loss treatment, adding resistant starch to a normal and balanced diet is much easier for people to follow through,” Li says.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/09/230905124907.htm

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Business News

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Psilocybin tea, wind chimes and a tie-dye mattress await those coming to an office suite in Eugene to trip on...

Business News

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is trumpeting Medicare’s new powers to negotiate directly with drugmakers on the cost of prescription medications — but a poll shows that...

Accidents

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco, sending people racing from their beds into the streets and toppling buildings in mountainous villages...

Health News

Intentionally losing weight can bring long-term health benefits for individuals with obesity, regardless of the method or strategy they use, according to a study...

Copyright © 2023 Hard News Herd Hitting in Your Face News Source | World News | Breaking News | US News | Political News Website by Top Search SEO