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A study found the Mediter­ranean diet (Med­Diet) was more effec­tive than a low-fat diet in reduc­ing hepatic fat (HF), which refers to liver fat.

Since ele­vated HF is linked to seri­ous dis­eases, the dis­cov­ery has impli­ca­tions for well­ness that extend far beyond liver health.

The study, pub­lished in the Jour­nal of Hepa­tol­ogy, exam­ined whether losses in HF related to dietary inter­ven­tions were linked to losses in vis­ceral fat, known as abdom­i­nal or belly fat.

It involved 278 par­tic­i­pants of an aver­age age of 48 with vis­ceral fat and ele­vated lipids in the blood. The indi­vid­u­als were ran­domly assigned either a Med­Diet or a low-fat diet with and with­out exer­cise for 18 months. Vis­ceral fat was mea­sured using mag­netic res­o­nance imag­ing.

After six and 18 months, both dietary groups had a reduc­tion in HF, which was tied to a low­er­ing of vis­ceral fat that sur­passed what would be expected due to weight loss. More­over, the Med­Diet was asso­ci­ated with a sig­nif­i­cantly greater decrease in HF and car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease risk fac­tors.

“High hepatic fat con­tent is asso­ci­ated with meta­bolic syn­drome, type two dia­betes mel­li­tus, and coro­nary heart dis­ease,” the researchers wrote. ​“In this 18-month inter­ven­tion trial, Mediter­ranean/low-car­bo­hy­drate diet induced a greater decrease in hepatic fat con­tent than low-fat diet, and the ben­e­fi­cial health effects were beyond the favor­able effects of vis­ceral fat loss.”

Gyne­col­o­gist and fer­til­ity physi­cian Tina Koop­er­smith of West Coast Women’s Repro­duc­tive Cen­ter in Sher­man Oaks, Cal­i­for­nia, did not par­tic­i­pate in the study, but told Olive Oil Times that the find­ings make sense to her since Mediter­ranean diet is not only low in fat, but also full of impor­tant nutri­ents.

“The Med­Diet dif­fers from the low-fat diet in var­i­ous ways,” she said. ​“It’s much richer in healthy monoun­sat­u­rated fats, which are present in extra vir­gin olive oil, avo­ca­dos and nuts. In addi­tion, it con­tains less sugar and refined grains than a stan­dard low-fat diet.”

“HF is often seen with dys­meta­bolic syn­drome, a con­di­tion of insulin resis­tance, ele­vated blood pres­sure and pre-dia­betes,” she added. ​“Fat in this area is also an indi­ca­tor or risk fac­tor for car­dio-meta­bolic dis­or­ders such as dia­betes and heart dis­ease.”

“Results from the study sug­gest a rever­sal or improve­ment in some of the under­ly­ing eti­olo­gies of today’s com­mon dis­eases,” she con­tin­ued. ​“For years, we have been told that we should avoid all fat in the diet because of the link between HF and cer­tain dis­or­ders, as well as the asso­ci­a­tion between ath­er­o­scle­rotic plaque and heart dis­ease. How­ever, peo­ple in France and in coun­tries that bor­der the Mediter­ranean Sea don’t avoid fat in the diet, yet they don’t have the inci­dence of chronic dis­ease that we see in the United States.”

“In recent years, sci­en­tists look­ing more deeply into the Med­Diet have found that its high con­tent of healthy monoun­sat­u­rated fats and avoid­ance of refined car­bo­hy­drates seem to be asso­ci­ated with bet­ter out­comes,” she con­cluded. ​“Research also shows that the Med­Diet is linked to lower insulin resis­tance and less depo­si­tion of fat in the liver. These effects lead to a bet­ter func­tion­ing liver with less inflam­ma­tion in the body, thus trans­lat­ing to bet­ter health.”

• Jour­nal of Hepa­tol­ogy


• Docwire