The beneficial effects of an active lifestyle on digestive and liver health

Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Regular physical activity is highly recommended for a healthy heart, mind and body. Sufficient physical activity helps maintain a healthy body weight, reduce inflammation and improve metabolism. It helps prevent or better treat most illnesses, such as gastrointestinal and liver diseases. Conversely, a sedentary lifestyle encourages the onset of these diseases.

In this study, researchers used a Mendelian randomization method to analyze the correlation between physical activity, sedentary behavior and gastrointestinal and liver diseases.

A genome-wide association study identified screen time as an indicator of a sedentary lifestyle, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Multivariable Mendelian randomization was used to adjust for possible cross-effects and confounding factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption.

The results of this study indicated that longer exposure to screens was associated with an increased risk of developing several gastrointestinal diseases such as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, gastric and duodenal ulcers, chronic gastritis and various liver diseases.

Conversely, regular moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with a lower prevalence of developing these diseases.

These associations were validated by several robust sensitivity analyses, reinforcing the validity of the conclusions. Several complementary approaches were also taken to ensure the robustness of these results.

These results highlight the importance of regular physical activity and active behavior in preventing various gastrointestinal and liver diseases. Physicians are encouraged to advise their patients to adopt an active lifestyle to improve their gastrointestinal and liver health.

Source(s) :
Chen, J., Ruan, X., Fu, T., Lu, S., Gill, D., He, Z., Burgess, S., Giovannucci, E. L., Larsson, S. C., Deng, M., Yuan, S., & Li, X. (2024). Sedentary lifestyle, physical activity, and gastrointestinal diseases: evidence from mendelian randomization analys ;

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