RESEARCH DISCOVERIES
RISK VARIANTS ASSOCIATED WITH LIVER FAT
High levels of liver fat are associated with metabolic syndrome , insulin resistance , chronic liver diseases , and liver cancer . As part of a study on obesity and cancer , UH Cancer Center researchers and co-principal investigators S . Lani Park , PhD , MPH , and Iona Cheng , PhD , MPH , identified genetic risk variants associated with the amount of fat present in the liver . Investigators analyzed data from 1,709 participants of the Multiethnic Cohort Study and found an association between liver fat and a genetic variant on chromosome six . This variant is found in Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians , but is absent in African Americans , European Americans , and Latinos . This discovery will allow researchers to better understand the biology of fatty liver and identify individuals at risk for this condition .
While investigating racial / ethnic differences in risk and risk factors for epithelial ovarian cancer , UH Cancer Center postdoctoral researcher Danja Sarink , PhD , found that compared to European American women ,
Native Hawaiian women had a 36 percent higher risk for ovarian cancer . Risk was found to be lower in Japanese American women by 21 percent and 26 percent in Latinas . The study also identified differences in the impact of individual risk factors . Women who have given birth or have used oral contraceptives are at a lower risk for ovarian cancer . Study findings also show that Latinas , who reported a later age at natural menopause or postmenopausal hormone therapy use , had a higher risk of ovarian cancer .
University of California San Francisco researchers in collaboration with UH Cancer Center researcher , John Shepherd , PhD , found that individuals who restrict their eating times are more likely to shed lean muscle mass than those with consistent meal times . Time-restricted eaters ate their meals during an eight-hour window , while participants with consistent meal times ate the typical three structured meals throughout the day . Sixty-five percent of the weight lost by the group of time-restricted eaters was lean mass , which is more than double of what is considered normal .