'Fatty liver disease (NFLD) is completely reversible,' he says. 'If you lose a small amount of weight, you can markedly reduce the fat content in your liver. In fact, even two days of calorie restriction can cause a large reduction in liver fat and improvement in liver insulin sensitivity.'

'We have found that excess fat in the liver, not visceral fat, is a key marker of metabolic dysfunction. Visceral fat might simply be an innocent bystander that is associated with liver fat,' says Klein, according to a WUSM-SL release.

The study was published online in PNAS Early Edition.