Forty men are needed for study that is looking to identify whether tackling liver fat is the key to treating conditions linked to being overweight and obese such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The research, funded by Diabetes UK, is being conducted as a collaborative effort between Loughborough University and the Leicester and Nottingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centres.
The study will use novel MRI techniques to assess liver fat and will investigate whether the type of fat stored in people’s liver is a risk factor for poor metabolic health and if exercise can positively alter this.
Researchers are looking for 26 overweight men with type 2 diabetes and 14 overweight men without type 2 diabetes to take part in the study.
Non-diabetic participants will be required to undergo an MRI scan of the liver and abdomen at the University of Nottingham and wear a wrist watch for seven days that will monitor their levels of physical activity.
They will also be required to undergo a clinical assessment – including a blood sample and fitness test – at Leicester General Hospital.
Individuals with type 2 diabetes will do the same as the above but will also complete six weeks of supervised exercise training before having their fitness and health reassessed afterwards.
Exercise training can take place at Loughborough University (National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine), Leicester (General Hospital) or Nottingham (Queen’s Medical Centre).
Participants cannot be smokers or currently on a diet and they must be between aged 30-75.
All travel expenses will be covered and those that take part in the testing will receive feedback on all their clinical assessments.
This study is currently active and will run until the end of 2019.
If you are interested or would like more information, please email Dr James King at J.A.King@lboro.ac.uk or call 01509 228457.