Hepatologist shares ‘most important prescription for fatty liver disease management’: HIIT, aerobic exercises and more

Fatty liver disease can be managed with the help of exercises. Know which ones help to control it, as revealed by the liver doctor.

Exercise is crucial for maintaining liver health. The importance is indispensable. Even hepatologist Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, known on social media as ‘The Liver Doc’, reiterated this. In a May 27 Instagram post, he emphasised the value of exercising.

He explained, “If a physician is not prescribing exercise for fatty liver reduction or prevention, but only a bunch of (ineffective) pills, then it's time to change your doctor.” This suggests that medicines alone may not be effective in supporting liver health. Relying solely on pills is not sufficient.

The liver doctor further shared an ‘exercise prescription’ for fatty liver disease management. For the uninformed, fatty liver disease occurs when excess fat builds up in the liver.

Here are the exercise tips he recommended:

1. 150 minutes of exercise

The hepatologist recommended at least 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic work, such as brisk walking. According to him, this ‘dose’ can triple the chances of reducing liver fat below 30 per cent on MRI, a mark that reflects good changes in the liver, similar to what is seen in a biopsy.

2. Pattern

Next, he talked about the exercise pattern, which commonly involves around 3 to 5 sessions per week with 40 minutes each. This is to be continued for 12 weeks or more to see noticeable benefits.

3. Resistance training

The next recommendation on his ‘exercise prescription’ is progressive resistance training, 2-3 times a week, performing 8-12 reps for 2-3 sets. This targets the major muscle group, reduces liver fat, liver enzymes, liver inflammation and insulin resistance.

4. Aerobic exercise + resistance training

The fourth suggestion of the liver doctor is to combine both aerobic and resistance training for 45-60 minutes, 3 days a week. This, in turn, reduces liver fat by approximately 10 per cent within 16 weeks, with better health benefits than either type of exercise alone.

5. HIIT

HIIT or High-Intensity Interval Training exercises are on Dr Cyriac's exercise list. As per the hepatologist, it involves doing 1- 5 rounds of 2- 4 minutes at near-maximum effort, with 2- 3 minutes of rest between each, performed 3 times a week. HIIT has many benefits as it lowers liver fat by 3 per cent and has many similar advantages to moderate continuous exercise, making it ideal for those who may have limited time.

6. Moderate vs vigorous intensity

While now one may think that the harder they exercise, the more liver fat will be reduced. But this is not true, as the liver doctor revealed that increasing intensity beyond moderate levels does not provide any additional liver-fat-lowering benefits.

7. Particular duration of exercising

To gain the optimum liver health benefits from exercise, there's a particular duration of exercise one needs to focus on. As per Dr Cyriac, high-quality meta-regression studies show that the minimum effective dose for reducing liver fat is about 135 minutes of moderate exercise per week. If you exercise less than this, then you may not receive the complete benefits. Hence, noting the duration is as important.

8. Simply staying active is enough

While one may think that only dropping numbers on the scale may make their liver healthy by Dr Cyriac assured that this is not always the case. The benefits of exercise on liver fat, according to him, are ‘independent of weight loss.’ This means that the liver fat can actually go down even if you don't see any visible weight changes. So, following good lifestyle habits benefits the liver, despite the absence of any drastic weight loss.

Note to readers: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.

This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice.

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