Researchers found obese teen boys had elevated liver enzyme levels, possibly related to metabolic syndrome, and "may be susceptible" to liver disease.
Moreover, the findings of the study, published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, suggest the increase in liver enzymes was related more to metabolic syndrome than simply to obesity.
The tests on the representative sample of 1,323 adolescents ages 12-19 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey did not reveal a strong association between elevated liver enzyme levels and metabolic syndrome in the female teens.
In non-Hispanics boys, metabolic syndrome and high enzyme levels were associated with each other -- independent of obesity, the study said.
"If some adolescents with metabolic syndrome may be susceptible to this liver disease regardless of whether or not they are obese, there may be other treatments yet to be discovered," study leader Dr. Rose Graham of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said in a statement.
Metabolic syndrome -- a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes -- is defined by a number of factors including waist circumference and has been associated in adults with a group of diseases called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
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