{"doi":"10.2337/dbi18-0043","title":"Exercise Combats Hepatic Steatosis: Potential Mechanisms and Clinical Implications","abstract":"<jats:p>Hepatic steatosis, the excess storage of intrahepatic lipids, is a rampant clinical problem associated with the obesity epidemic. Hepatic steatosis is linked to increased risk for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular and advanced liver disease. Accumulating evidence shows that physical activity, exercise, and aerobic capacity have profound effects on regulating intrahepatic lipids and mediating susceptibility for hepatic steatosis. Moreover, exercise can effectively reduce hepatic steatosis independent of changes in body mass. In this perspective, we highlight 1) the relationship between obesity and metabolic pathways putatively driving hepatic steatosis compared with changes induced by exercise; 2) the impact of physical activity, exercise, and aerobic capacity compared with caloric restriction on regulating intrahepatic lipids and steatosis risk; 3) the effects of exercise training (modalities, volume, intensity) for treatment of hepatic steatosis, and 4) evidence for a sustained protection against steatosis induced by exercise. Overall, evidence clearly indicates that exercise powerfully regulates intrahepatic storage of fat and risk for steatosis.</jats:p>","journal":"Diabetes","year":2020,"id":45606,"datarank":2.7411652229389096,"base_score":4.718498871295094,"endowment":4.718498871295094,"self_citation_contribution":0.7077748306942643,"citation_network_contribution":2.0333903922446455,"self_endowment_contribution":0.7077748306942643,"citer_contribution":2.0333903922446455,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":111,"citer_count":95,"citers_with_citation_signal":73,"citers_with_endowment":73,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":212851,"name":"R. Scott Rector","orcid":"0000-0001-9908-7123","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":212850,"name":"John P. Thyfault","orcid":"0000-0001-7920-7466","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"base_score":4.718498871295094,"endowment":4.718498871295094,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"32198195","pmcid":"PMC7085252","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W3011122423","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Veterans Affairs","grant_id":"I01BX003271","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"R01 DK113701","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"1I01BX002567","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"R01 KD121497","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Institutes of Health","grant_id":"R01 AR071263","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIDDK NIH HHS","grant_id":"R01 DK121497","title":null},{"funder_name":"BLRD VA","grant_id":"I01 BX002567","title":null}],"total_grants":7,"fwci":9.4633,"citation_percentile":0.98696737,"influential_citations":6,"citation_trend":[{"year":2020,"count":9},{"year":2021,"count":18},{"year":2022,"count":21},{"year":2023,"count":16},{"year":2024,"count":13},{"year":2025,"count":25},{"year":2026,"count":9}],"oa_status":"green","license":"https://www.diabetesjournals.org/content/license","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/7085252","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/diabetes/69/4/517.full.pdf","host_type":"GREEN"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/7085252","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/syndication/doi/10.2337/dbi18-0043","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://journals.org/diabetes/diabetes/article-pdf/69/4/517/438315/dbi180043.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://diabetesjournals.org/diabetes/article-pdf/69/4/517/438315/dbi180043.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.2337/dbi18-0043","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32198195","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment","Diet, Metabolism, and Disease","Diet and metabolism studies","Medicine","Environmental Science","Animals","Body Mass Index","Caloric Restriction","Exercise","Fatty Liver","Humans","Insulin Resistance","Lipid Metabolism","Liver","Obesity"],"mesh_terms":["Animals","Fatty Liver","Humans","Insulin Resistance","Liver","Obesity","Exercise","Body Mass Index","Caloric Restriction","Lipid Metabolism"],"keywords":["Steatosis","Internal medicine","Medicine","Fatty liver","Aerobic exercise","Insulin resistance","Physical exercise","Endocrinology","Obesity","Disease"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-03T22:51:05.732602Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}