![\"ECU](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/43b52cc3b190053b575875d2c280979efd11226b.jpg\")
Camera IconECU Associate Professor Lois Balmer. Credit: Simon Santi\/The West Australian<\/p>\nEating fruit and nuts can protect the human body against liver disease, a new West Australian-led study has found.<\/p>\n
Research by Edith Cowin University and Curtin University shows the popular snack can help reverse damage caused by non-alcoholic fatty liver disease \u2014 a currently untreatable condition affecting about one-in-three Australians.<\/p>\n
NAFLD, which is caused by obesity, diabetes and high-blood pressure, has become the most prevalent liver disease globally and occurs when excess fat build up in people who drink little to no alcohol.<\/p>\n
ECU Associate Professor Lois Balmer said regularly eating the snack could be a surprise way to reverse damages caused by the condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that ellagic acid (EA), which is found in a variety of foods such as pomegranates, berries, grapes and walnuts, helped to protect the liver from disease,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEllagic acid is a natural antioxidant known for its potential anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties and holds great promise in treating various chronic diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the study also found inulin \u2014 a prebiotic found in many popular fibre supplements available at pharmacies, health stores and online \u2014 make the condition even worse, especially when taken on its own.<\/p>\n
Scientists suspected an imbalance of microbes in the gut was to blame for the negative side effects.<\/p>\n
The study, which was conducted on mice over seven months, was a reminder for people to make checking liver health a higher priority, according to Prof. Balmer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a common thing to check liver damage. I would absolutely implore that people to have those scanning or preliminary blood tests that check all the organs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you can do something about it, but you can\u2019t when it\u2019s gone past Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) and into the more severe cases, and it\u2019s too damaged.<\/p>\n
Camera IconECU Associate Professor Lois Balmer. Credit: Simon Santi\/The West Australian<\/p>\n
For the volume of Australians living with NAFLD, there seemed to be a gap in the public\u2019s understanding of it, Associate Professor Balmer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout 37 per cent of the Australian population are estimated to have chronic liver disease, and I think that\u2019s really important to know, because you don\u2019t know you have it until someone tests for it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone that\u2019s overweight or obese could have it. Fat around the stomach is a risk factor, as well as type two diabetes. You know, Being over the age of 50 is a high risk factor, but it\u2019s not a common thing to have the liver enzymes checked.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a reasonable threshold before NAFLD became untreatable, she stressed, meaning those with the condition will be able to tackle it before it becomes deadly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that people realise it is common and you can do things to change it,\u201d Associate Professor Balmer said.<\/p>\n
While the research is a promising indicator of the power nuts and fruits wield in the reversal of NAFLD, trials will likely take years before exact servings sizes can be recommended.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first study to prove that we\u2019ve actually found something that can reverse and halt the progression of liver disease,\u201d Associate Professor Balmer said.<\/p>\n
The research, a collaboration between ECU and Curtin University, is the first of its kind to be conducted in Australia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eating fruit and nuts can protect the human body against liver disease, a new West Australian-led study has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[103,61,60,43,446,2361,3635],"class_list":["post-422256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-nutrition","tag-public-health","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}