According to a new study revealed today, Saturday, June 1, kids who are inactive for more than six waking hours a day have a significantly increased risk of severe fatty liver disease and liver cirrhosis by young adulthood. This was stated in a report by IANS.

Fatty liver disease is a harmful fat buildup in the liver. When the condition is not due to alcohol consumption but is linked to at least one of the five components of metabolic syndrome, it is called metabolic-associated steatotic (fatty) liver disease (MASLD).

“We found that this relationship between sedentariness and liver damage is likely causal,” said Professor Andrew Agbaje of the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, Finland, at ENDO 2024, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston in the United States of America (USA or US).

At ages 17 and 24, study participants underwent a liver ultrasound scan to assess for fatty liver and evidence of liver scarring.

On average, children from the study spent six hours a day sitting or otherwise being sedentary, but this time increased to nine hours daily by young adulthood.

For each half-hour of sedentary behaviour above six hours per day, children had 15 per cent higher odds of developing fatty liver disease before they were 25 years old.

Any increase of sedentary time above six hours a day resulted in a corresponding decrease in the time spent in light-intensity physical activity, therefore, three hours less daily by young adulthood.

“We believe that this alteration in sedentary time versus time for light-intensity physical activity sets the stage for disease initiation and progression,” Agbaje said.