Israeli researchers say they have found a diet that significantly reduces liver fat by adjusting to the traditional Mediterranean regime to include it special greens.
“Our research team has shown through careful, randomized long-term trials for more than 20 years that the Mediterranean diet, rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts, is the healthiest,” said prof. Iris Shai, epidemiologist, said. “Now we have found that specific changes to this diet can cause a large reduction in liver fat.”
In an 18-month study conducted by 294 participants in southern Israel, two-thirds of the participants ate a Mediterranean diet and exercised regularly. They lost weight in similar amounts, but those who ate the adapted “green” version, with less meat, more plant products and lots of green tea, saw particular benefits in their liver.
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“Although the Mediterranean Diet and the Green Mediterranean Diet led to an equal weight loss, fat loss in the liver was doubled among those who had the green diet,” Shai told The Times of Israel.
Ingredients for a Mediterranean diet (inaquim via iStock at Getty Images)
“The liver is so important to overall human health, and fatty liver disease has wide implications, but there is a lack of medication treatments and a lack of dietary protocols beyond general weight loss, which makes this finding important.”
The modified diet is aimed at high levels of polyphenols, organic compounds produced by plants, to seemingly protect themselves from stress.
The study, conducted by Shai, a professor at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, and an adjunct professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, was recently published in peer-reviewed journal Gut. Several Harvard scholars were involved in the study.
One of the items in the diet is an aquatic plant called mankai that an Israeli company, Hinoman, markets as a superfood. Shai is an advisor to the company.
It is estimated that 20 to 35% of adults have fatty liver, which doctors say increases the risk of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular conditions, as well as reducing intestinal microbiome diversity and microbial imbalance. There is currently no medicine available and the only intervention is weight loss and the restriction of alcohol use.
Powdered form of an aquatic plant mankai (Schachar Fleishman)
The diet is rich in vegetables, contains a daily intake of walnuts (28 grams), and less meat than a regular Mediterranean diet. It is enriched with green items, including three to four cups of green tea a day and 100 grams of mankai green shake.
Shai said: “We believe that there are components such as polyphenols and fibers that alter the microbiome, which helps this diet cleanse fat from the liver.”