Study: Diet High in Sugar, Fat Produces Bacterium That Triggers Fatty Liver Disease

Research in mice uncovers the mechanism explaining how Western diets high in fat and sugar cause chronic liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease may be represented by an increase in one bacteria, in a similar way the microbiome is a biomarker for obesity and end-stage liver fibrosis. Shutterstock

A new study in mice from the University of Missouri–Columbia is shedding light on how diet seems to change the specific bacterial makeup of the gut and instigate a metabolic process that leads to fat buildup in the liver.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has few symptoms. The risk factors include obesity, insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol or triglyceride levels, age, and traits of metabolic syndrome. Fatty liver disease affects about 24 percent of U.S. adults—many who don’t know they have the disorder—and a growing number of children.