Obese at higher risk of liver disease (From Daily Echo)

Obese at higher risk of liver disease

6:00am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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A SOUTHAMPTON academic has called for more research into the diagnosis and treatment in liver disease after a study revealed obese women who drink more than a glass of wine a day are more at risk of the condition than slimmer women.

Obese men drinking 15 or more units a week – the equivalent of five pints of beer a week – had almost 19 times higher risk of dying of liver disease.

Writing about the study that was published in the British Medical Journal, Professor Christopher Byrne from the University of Southampton and Dr Sarah Wild from the University of Edinburgh said: “Reducing alcohol consumption and obesity are, at present, our only weapons against non-viral liver disease.

“The progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to end stage liver disease can now be added to the list of the undesirable consequences of modern lifestyles.”