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in collaboration with
Laurent Chevallier (doctor in internal medicine and consulting physician in nutrition)
Medical validation:
December 27, 2022
According to a new study, the accumulation of fat in the liver leads to a decrease in oxygen in the brain and inflammation of brain tissue.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (Nash), also called “fatty liver disease”, is characterized by an accumulation of fat in the liver. But it would also affect the brain, according to a new study conducted by researchers from the Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology, in collaboration with Inserm and the University of Poitiers. The results of this test are available in the Journal of Hepatology.
Two diets were screened
Within the framework of this study, the scientists attempted to highlight the pathophysiology of the liver-brain axis.
To do this, they studied the effects of a high-fat (55%) diet and those of a low-fat (10%) diet on two groups of mice.
After 16 weeks, they then compared the effect of these two diets on the liver and the brain.
Result ? All mice fed the higher fat diet were obese and had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (Nash), insulin resistance and brain dysfunction.
The researchers also found that the brains of mice on the highest calorie diet were oxygen deficient – fatty liver disease appeared to affect the number and thickness of cerebral blood vessels, and therefore the delivery of oxygen to tissues.
In addition, brain inflammation caused by non-alcoholic fatty liver disease appeared to increase the mice’s oxygen requirements. They also showed more anxiety and signs of depression.
Conversely, in the other group of rodents, none of the cited effects was detected.
A protein to prevent or treat Nash
Following these results, the researchers looked into possible treatments and unearthed a promising lead: the use of the MCT1 protein, which plays a role in the transport of energy substrates, to protect mice from Nash and disorders. associated brains.
If this therapeutic route seems interesting, for Dr Laurent Chevallier, nutritionist, “The most proven treatment for patients with Nash remains the establishment of a diet low in saturated gas acids and rich in plants.. For it to work, “the patient must nevertheless be voluntary and accompanied“.
This support, specifies the expert, must be “as early as possible” in order to avoid the appearance of cirrhosis and/or liver cancer.