Increased diabetes risk from liver disease

According to a recent Australian study, a liver disease caused by being overweight of obese could increase the risks of developing diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The study was an 11-year follow up on the Busselton Health Survey.
Those patients who suffered from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were found to be three times as likely to develop diabetes as those without. According to the study, some 20 per cent of Australians suffer from some degree of NAFLD.
Dr Leon Adams, the lead researcher, reportedly commented: “The study establishes a link between the liver and diabetes. It also suggests that NAFLD is a step in the pathway towards the development of diabetes when we have previously thought the reverse to be true – that diabetes leads to the development of NAFLD.”
Dr. Adams, of the School of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Western Australia, presented the findings at Australian Gastroenterology week.