Clotting Risk In Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Patients Reduces With Exercise

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : March 4, 2022

Fatty liver also affects people who do not consume alcohol, and such patients are at risk of developing blood clots. Research says that this can be avoided to a major extent with the help of regular exercise. Due to this reason, NAFLD patients should always make it a point to exercise regularly and consume a healthy diet as this can improve the overall health condition apart from repairing the damaged liver.

Clotting Risk In Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Patients Reduces With Exercise

Surprisingly, NAFLD is more common than you think, as it affects close to a billion people around the world. In this condition, excess fat accumulates in the cells of the liver, which can lead to heart diseases in many cases. Not only that, the risk of stroke and cancer also increases with this condition.

Clotting Risk In Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Patients Reduces With Exercise

Such patients are also at high risk of blood clots that can affect their overall health in many ways. There is no proper drug to treat this condition, and it has to be managed with alternative methods of treatment.

The recent study focused on this aspect, and clinical trials were done on these patients. The patients were given an exercise regime that included basic aerobics and other exercises. Along with that, they were also given proper instructions on the diet that needs to be followed to boost the health of the liver. The entire duration of the exercise program lasted for over 20 weeks, and participants with an aggressive form of NAFLD were chosen for the program in order to get accurate results about the effectiveness of exercises on this disease.

Interestingly, the plasminogen activator inhibitor, one protein that helps blood clots, was reduced to a large extent in the group that exercised regularly. The participants exercised for about 30 minutes throughout the week, and this was enough to see a noticeable difference in PAI 1 protein in the body.

Blood clots in such patients need to be taken seriously as this can even lead to death in extreme cases. Even when the problem is moderate, it can lead to problems in the legs and lung region apart from affecting the liver. In the US, close to a million people suffer from this condition every year, leading to various complications in the long run when proper therapy is not provided in the early stages.

Exercise has many benefits for fatty liver patients as it not only reduces the risk of blood clots but also reduces the amount of fat stored in the liver. In this way, the overall health improves by a significant margin in these patients.

The reduction in blood clots is due to the improved supply of blood throughout the body during exercise. Apart from that, the body is able to boost the supply of oxygen in a big way during aerobic activities, and this impacts the flow of blood throughout the body.

The benefits of exercise do not stop at this point as it also impacts the blood sugar levels in the body. In this way, patients are able to attack the problem of fatty liver from multiple sources, and this helps them to improve their overall health with regular exercise. Interestingly, there was no impact on the dietary changes in the study, and participants who did not follow the diet strictly also showed similar results after regular exercise.

As there is no drug to treat fatty liver disease, patients need to look into such safe methods to handle the situation. If blood clots are avoided in the initial stages, it becomes easy to control the situation in the long run. This is an effective therapy to reduce the fat content in the liver.


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

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