Aug 10, 2015

what is your liver's BMI?

It's probably no surprise that all the researchers on this new research paper are Japanese. The acronyms make it tough to parse, but the gist of the article is this: individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are at a much higher risk of developing diabetes even if they are skinny. Moreso than overweight individuals without NAFLD.

This in essence is an Asian problem for reasons unknown. Asians don't get subcutaneous fat at the same rate as other races. Instead it seems that Asians generally pack on fat around their organs. This is worse because you can't see it so you don't know anything is wrong. This is observational and I presume the study is all Japanese people. But it's inline with previous research. What I'm waiting for is a study on what it is about Asians that makes them store visceral fat over subcutaneous. We have no insight into that. Also problematic is that no one explicitly checks for NAFLD. It requires an ultrasound measurement to be sure. And no amount of exercise is going to solve this problem. This is 100% diet. Given doctors recommendations for a 'healthy diet', this is effectively a diagnosis of future type 2 diabetes. And Alzheimers. And heart attacks. And strokes. And....

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