Archive · 30 May 2025
Study Explores Dietary Supplement for Liver Cirrhosis Treatment
Imagine your liver is like a sponge that helps clean your blood.
Cirrhosis is like when that sponge gets all scarred up and can't work right.
Doctors are trying a supplement called HMB, usually used to build muscle, to see if it can help.
They'll test it on many people in the UK who have cirrhosis, which is often caused by drinking too much alcohol or having a fatty liver.
The goal is to see if HMB can make people with cirrhosis feel better and stronger.
A new study is investigating the use of the dietary supplement HMB as a potential treatment for liver cirrhosis.
Liver cirrhosis is a condition where the liver is scarred and permanently damaged.
The study will involve 60,000 people in the UK diagnosed with cirrhosis, often caused by alcohol use or fatty liver disease.
Cirrhosis leads to thousands of hospital admissions and costs the NHS billions annually.
Researchers aim to determine if HMB improves patients' physical function and quality of life.
- Who
- Scientists and clinicians from the University of Plymouth, the University of Southampton, and Imperial College London are leading the study.
- What
- A clinical trial is testing the effectiveness of HMB, a dietary supplement, for treating liver cirrhosis.
- When
- The study is ongoing.
- Where
- The trial is taking place in the UK.
- Why
- To determine if the supplement HMB can improve the physical function and quality of life for people with cirrhosis.
- Condition
- Liver cirrhosis
- Supplement
- HMB (β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate)
- Participants
- 60,000
- Location
- UK
- Common Causes
- Alcohol use, fatty liver disease
- Research Institutions
- University of Plymouth, University of Southampton, Imperial College London