A study published in Gut claims young overweight or obese men run a higher risk of developing severe liver disease or liver cancer later in life.
Dr. Hannes Hagström, of the Stockholm, Sweden-based Karolinska University, analyzed register data for approximately 1.2 million Swedish men enlisted for military conscription between 1969 and 1996. Researchers linked severe liver disease, liver cancer and type 2 diabetes from follow-up population-based registers.
Here's what they found.
1. Of the study base, 5,281 men had severe liver diseases.
2. Of those with liver diseases, 251 men developed liver cancer.
3. Overweight men were half as likely and obese men were two times more likely to develop liver disease than normal weight men.
4. Men with type 2 diabetes were three times as likely to develop liver disease.
The study was observational in nature, so the researchers made no firm conclusions on cause and effect. They did say, "This could have implications for public health decision making, strengthening the need of targeted intervention against overweight and obesity at an early age and specifically highlights the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus as a risk factor for liver disease."