Rise in liver ensymes after rapid weight loss is deemed transient.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)

PHOENIX -- Increases in liver enzymes after substantial weight loss are common, transient, and not cause for alarm, suggest study results presented at the annual scientific meeting of the Obesity Society.

Dr. James W. Anderson assessed liver function tests in 91 obese and 94 severely obese patients who were participating in a rapid weight loss program at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, where he is medical director of the Health Management Resources weight loss program. About a quarter of both groups had elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels at baseline. Mean ALT levels increased within 3-6 weeks of starting the program in nearly all patients. By 16 weeks, however, ALT levels had returned to normal in 98% of the population.

"What we found systematically is that the levels increase, but they come back down below where they started. So we think this is therapeutic, of great value," he said in a posterside interview, rejecting the hypothesis that weight loss could trigger or worsen liver disease.

Generally speaking, about a third of obese individuals have elevated ALT before weight loss, he said; moreover, about two-thirds of obese individuals and 90% of severely obese individuals have steatosis, ...