Liver disease: Another reason to avoid long `chair hours`

Recently, attention has focused on the damaging effects of sedentary behaviour regardless of additional physical activity.

Even if you are not overweight, prolonged sitting could lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, according to a new study.

A team of Korean researchers found that those who sit for more than 10 hours a day have 9% higher risk of developing Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) than those who sit less than 5 hours a day. However, the association between physical activity and NAFLD has been largely unexplored.

Close to 140,000 South Korean men and women with an average age of about 40 years were analyzed in the study.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a term used to describe the accumulation of fat in the liver of those who drink little or no alcohol.

The study had included more than 139,000 individuals who completed their physical at various hospitals.

What’s more, these two risk factors were independent of each other – suggesting that increased physical activity may not offset prolonged periods of sitting, and that reduced sitting time may not make up for absence of physical activity.

Physical activity is known to reduce the incidence and mortality of various chronic diseases. Before making an ultrasonography to find if they had NAFLD, the researchers asked for the amounts of hours they spent sitting and how often they do exercise. Physical activity level and sitting time were assessed using the Korean version of the global Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form. Of particular note, these same observations were made in people with a normal body weight, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of less than 23. “The message is clear, our chairs are slowly but surely killing us”, he says.

“Our body is created to move, and it is not surprising that sedentary behavior, characterized by low muscle activity, has a direct impact on physiology”, wrote Michael Trenell, a professor of metabolism and lifestyle medicine at Newcastle University in England, in an editorial accompanying the study published in the Journal of Hepatology, reports Fox News. “The challenge for us now is to “stand up” and move for NAFLD, both physically and metaphorically”.

There is now a lack of approved drugs for treating people with NAFLD, which is why experts are particularly encouraging people to look at their lifestyle as a way of reducing the risk.