When liver cells are damaged, ALT can leak out into your bloodstream. What causes elevated ALT? Many lifestyle factors can influence your ALT levels, including: Alcohol intake Body weight Triglyceride levels Smoking Muscle damage One of the more frequent causes of high ALT levels is a condition commonly referred to as a fatty liver , which is a reversible condition that occurs when large amounts of triglycerides the type of fat typically found in food accumulate in liver cells.
How can I decrease my elevated ALT? The good news is that many people can lower their elevated ALT with changes in their lifestyle and exercise: Limit alcohol consumption Lose weight Quit smoking Get regular exercise Consider taking probiotic supplements to improve your digestive health Eat a healthy diet InsideTracker will recommend personalized lifestyle changes to help you decrease your ALT. What types of foods will help to lower elevated ALT? What you eat also has an effect on ALT.
Limiting high-fat foods, especially ones that are derived from animal sources, may help decrease elevated ALT levels. High-fat foods increase fat levels in your blood, which may end up being deposited in the liver. Helpful changes can include: Choosing lean proteins, such as chicken breast, fish, or beans, and low-fat dairy products. Reducing the refined carbohydrates and sugars in your diet. Instead, eat whole foods like beans, whole grains, berries, oatmeal, and vegetables, which provide fiber, vitamins and antioxidants.
Eating foods high in folate, which studies have shown can help to reduce ALT and improve liver health. There have been a few studies evaluating the effects of the changes of alcohol consumption or the changes of body mass index BMI on the level of liver enzymes in a prospectively systematic way among apparently healthy people.
This is an apparently surprising result given the strong association between alcohol consumption and serum liver enzymes consistently reported in many cross-sectional studies from western countries.
However, one study which analysed liver enzymes separately showed that the effect of body weight or alcohol consumption could be different depending upon which liver enzyme is assessed. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the association of baseline BMI, BMI changes, baseline alcohol consumption, and changes in alcohol consumption on serum liver enzyme activity in male workers, most of whom were in a normal range of BMI at baseline, at a large steel company in the Republic of Korea.
All workers in this company are required to have an annual health check-up consisting of clinical and laboratory measurements. Throughout , health check-ups were performed between a. Male workers between 25 and 50 years old without definite liver disease or hepatitis B antigen were eligible for follow-up for this study. Of the 11 men who met these criteria, men Among these subjects, men without diseases requiring continuous medication became the base population for a cross-sectional analysis.
After all exclusions, men were included in the incidence analyses. Information on lifestyle factors including cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, and medical history were obtained by self-reported questionnaires. Each year, all workers were asked to complete the same, or slightly modified, questionnaire. For each questionnaire, changes spotted by a computerized data system which contained information from previous years were confirmed by a nurse in a direct interview.
The workers were asked how many times per week or per month they consumed alcohol and the typical quantities consumed. They were asked to estimate the amount in terms of soju, a popular Korean liquor. Based on this information the amount of alcohol consumed per week was calculated. Venous blood samples were obtained from a cubital vein after overnight 12 hours fasting. The relationship between alcohol consumption and BMI, and the prevalence and incidence of elevated liver enzyme were analysed by multiple logistic regression, using the SAS statistical program, version 6.
There were no interaction terms that reached statistical significance; therefore, these terms were dropped from the final model.
We included baseline AST or ALT or GGT as covariates because amounts of changes of these enzymes during 4 years were dependent upon the baseline value of these enzymes. Those with relatively high values of serum liver enzymes at baseline, although in normal range, tended to increase more than those with low values. Table 1 shows the baseline characteristics of the subjects. The mean age of the subjects was The prevalence of elevated liver enzyme at baseline was 7.
The prevalence of elevated liver enzyme showed clear dose-response relationships with BMI in for all three liver enzymes. GGT also showed a dose-response relationship with the amount of alcohol consumption, however, AST and ALT showed little or no statistically significant relationship.
In comparison with non-drinkers, the adjusted odds ratios in GGT were as follows: 2. During the follow-up periods 4. The magnitude of the effect of the change in body weight was much larger than that of baseline body weight. Compared with the weight losers or maintainers, the adjusted odds ratios for slight weight gainers, moderate weight gainers, and heavy weight gainers were as follows: 1. However, baseline alcohol consumption and the change of alcohol consumption did not show any notable relationship with either AST or ALT, even though there was a slight relationship with baseline alcohol consumption.
There were clear dose-response relationships with BMI changes and baseline alcohol consumption, but not baseline BMI and the changes of alcohol consumption, even though the changes of alcohol consumption affected slightly the incidence of abnormal GGT. Compared with weight losers or maintainers, the adjusted odds ratios for slight weight gainers, moderate weight gainers, and heavy weight gainers were 2.
In comparison with non-drinkers, the adjusted odds ratios were 1. First, serum activity of both AST and ALT showed strong dose-response relationships with body weight rather than with alcohol consumption. Regarding alcohol consumption, there was only a weak relationship with baseline alcohol consumption and no relationship with the changes of alcohol consumption. A second major finding was that serum GGT activity was related to both the baseline amount of alcohol consumed and the changes of body weight, while there were only weak or no relationships with the changes of alcohol consumption and the baseline BMI.
Several cross-sectional and clinical studies 5 — 8 have shown consistently that the increased serum activity of various liver enzymes is related to overweight or obesity. The results of a few prospective studies 10 , 12 , 14 — 16 also confirmed this association. In this prospective study, higher levels of adiposity as assessed by baseline BMI and BMI change were monotonically related to an increase in the incidence of elevated serum liver enzymes, especially AST and ALT, even though most of our subjects had a BMI within the normal range.
Our study allows a more precise quantification of the dose-response relationship than has been possible previously due to the large sample size. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report these findings. Among our subjects, those with higher baseline BMI tended to experience an increase in body weight less than those with lower baseline BMI.
Hence, one of these factors should be considered as a confounder when interpreting associations with the other. Although Bruns et al. These findings were similar to those observed in other studies. According to another study, 18 AST values also should be corrected for body weight because in various animal species, ranging from mice to cattle, the expected enzymatic activity can be expressed as a function of a power of the weight. AST and ALT had a surprisingly weak or non-existent relationship with alcohol consumption in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in our study; although the relationship between alcohol consumption and GGT was clear, as expected.
The studies 9 , 10 , 19 from western countries reported that the magnitude of the effect of alcohol consumption was similar to, or slightly smaller than, that of obesity. This could be because the total alcohol consumption in our subjects might have been lower than in other studies.
Alternatively, Asians may be less sensitive to alcohol than Caucasians. The importance of BMI change means that the effects of adiposity might be temporary. A 7-year longitudinal population study from Norway also showed that the change in BMI was the single strongest determinant of change in GGT.
One of the most interesting findings of this study was that GGT showed a relationship only with baseline alcohol consumption, not change in alcohol consumption, the opposite finding to the relationship observed for BMI. As far as we know, though, there has been no previous study exploring the relationships between both baseline and the changes of alcohol consumption, and liver enzyme concurrently, the results of some studies support our finding.
As a screening test for alcoholism and alcohol abuse, the sensitivity of GGT has been considered to be acceptable, but its specificity is poor.
They interpreted this as reflecting the imprecision of their alcohol questions, which may have introduced random measurement errors that obscured the true changes in alcohol consumption. However, our result suggested that it could be a real association. Some investigators 22 , 23 have suggested that elevated GGT activity in drinkers is probably related more closely to the biological effects of alcohol than to the amount of alcohol consumption.
In conclusion, these data indicate that body weight rather than alcohol consumption may be the major factor in determining the level of liver enzyme, though some ethnic differences may need to be taken into consideration. In particular, even slight or moderate gains in weight, and levels of body weight not generally considered to be overweight, were associated with increases of liver enzyme.
Binge drinking, on the other hand, encompasses four or five drinks in a row and can also result in liver damage. Chronic or heavy drinkers face a greater chance of contracting liver diseases. Common symptoms of liver disease include:. Diseases caused by alcohol are entirely avoidable.
Similarly, if alcohol misuse is detected or recognized early enough, an individual may reverse long-term damage to the liver. Curious to know how long to abstain from alcohol to repair liver? Stopping drinking is not easy. That said, individuals with cirrhosis or alcoholic hepatitis will eventually suffer liver failure unless they abstain from drinking. Alcohol is a toxin, and the liver flushes out toxins in order to protect the body from damage.
Over time, this process becomes incredibly taxing for the liver, leading to scarring. In its early stages, alcohol liver disease ALD can be reversed completely by improving liver health by abstaining from drinking.
Healing to your liver can begin as early as a few days to weeks after you stop drinking. However, this is highly dependent on history with alcohol. Factors to consider when trying to identify how long it takes to regenerate your liver to healthy functionality properly include:.
Unfortunately, once scar tissue develops, it can take longer or be next to impossible to reverse that scarring process. Individuals who occasionally binge drink on weekends can usually avoid toxic liver diseases when abstaining from alcohol for two weeks to a full month. Most expert guidelines suggest avoiding drinking alcohol for 30 days to help your liver restore to its normal function.
Severe drinking may require three months to a year to fully regenerate the liver to its original capacity and functionality. Even if consumed in small amounts, alcohol is both dangerous and extremely addictive.
In severe cases of alcohol consumption, professional intervention may be required. AspenRidge Recovery provides clients with a comprehensive treatment program that addresses alcohol dependency and helps individuals find the strength to say no despite the life hurdles we often face.
0コメント