Obesity ‘can affect liver health even among young children’

Weight gain may have a negative impact on liver health among children as young as eight years of age, according to new research.

The Columbia University Medical Center study measured blood levels of a liver enzyme called ALT – a known marker for liver damage, which occurs in individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and other conditions – among 635 children.

By age eight, it was shown that 23 percent of children exhibited elevated ALT levels, a trend that was more pronounced among children with a bigger waist circumference at age three and those with greater gains in obesity measures between ages three and eight.

Approximately 35 percent of eight-year-olds with obesity were shown to have elevated ALT levels, compared to 20 percent of those with normal weight. This puts these children at a higher risk of cirrhosis of the liver, or even liver cancer.

Study leader Dr Jennifer Woo Baidal, assistant professor of paediatrics at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, said: "Many parents know that obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic conditions, but there is far less awareness that obesity, even in young children, can lead to serious liver disease."

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