ITALY--Elevated serum transaminase levels are often found in patients who do not have diabetes or dyslipidemias, but the clinical significance of "nonalcoholic fatty liver disease" is not clear.
Researchers studied 46 patients with chronically elevated levels of serum transaminase. The study included ultrasound examinations of the fatty livers and comparisons of numerous age-and-sex-matched control levels of patients with normal transaminase levels.
It was found that serum cholesterol levels were similar in the patients who had nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and in the control group, but 61 percent of the patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease had elevated levels of triglycerides, in contrast to only 21 percent of the control patients. Fasting insulin levels in these patients were also twice as high as in the control group.
(Source: American Journal of Medicine, November 1, 1999.)
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