The Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition has published a groundbreaking discovery based on work from Georgia Southern University Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health researchers. Doctoral students enrolled in a seminar on the epidemiology of chronic diseases have found a rising, positive trend in American adolescents: the liver health of youth aged 12 to 19 is improving.
The most common form of liver disease affecting this age range is known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which more than seven million American children suffer from.
MASLD occurs when fat deposits in the liver damage the liver cells. Fatty buildup like this creates scarring over time which can lead to liver failure.
But, years of clinical research by Georgia Southern researchers are beginning to pay off. Their studies, supported by the latest visual analytical tools, have led to a revolutionary breakthrough conclusion: the mean levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), a key biomarker for MASLD, have decreased in recent years.
“This improvement signifies the success of implementing population-wide interventions,” explained Georgia Southern graduate student and study co-author Arshpreet Mallhi. “The main findings encourage strengthening the interventions to curb the intake of a high sugar diet, especially fructose.”
Mallhi and her fellow co-authors Victoria Roy, Haresh Rochani and Keagan Kiely, led by Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health Epidemiology Professor Jian Zhang, MD, are pleased with their findings, but their research isn’t over yet.
“The ultimate goal is to improve the overall health of American children,” explained Zhang. “Our findings provide a more nuanced understanding of liver health trends among American youth. While the decrease in mean ALT levels is encouraging, the high prevalence of elevated ALT values calls for intensified clinical prevention and patient care.”
The discovery brings hope to patients living with MASLD through research conducted at Georgia Southern.
“The changes we’ve seen are moving in the right direction,” explained Stuart Tedders, Ph.D., epidemiology professor and dean of Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health. “The statistics show a lot of promise for multi-level social-engineering efforts. It motivates us. There’s more to learn, more to do and more we can improve on.”