Fat levels in the livers of people suffering from Type 2 diabetes can be reduced by up to 40 per cent if they take part in weekly sessions of moderate aerobic exercise combined with some weightlifting, a new report has suggested.

Carried out by physical fitness experts at John Hopkins University in the USA, the research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation earlier this month.

In the study, 77 diabetic men and women were divided into two groups. One was put through a moderate programme of sustained aerobic exercise which consisted of three 45-minute sessions per week. Participant in this group also did weightlifting.

The other patients were asked to avoid any gym or formal aerobic fitness classes.

"Special magnetic resonance imaging scans performed at the start and end of the study showed much lower levels of liver fat in the active group, while levels remained the same in the nonexercising group - at 5.6 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively," the researchers noted.

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