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Can one workout a week melt liver fat?

NCT ID NCT03912272

Disease control Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

What the study statuses mean

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Recruitment status, easiest to join first

Recruiting now
This trial is taking on new participants right now.
Not yet recruiting
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
By invitation only
Not open to general applications. Only people the study team invites can take part.
Paused
Paused for now. It may or may not start again.
Ongoing
Running, but no longer taking on new participants.
Completed This study
The trial has finished. Results may not be published yet.
Stopped early
Stopped early, before it reached the end. That can be for many reasons, including safety.
Cancelled
Cancelled before anyone took part.

Expanded access (not trials)

Expanded access
Not a trial. This treatment can be requested outside a study, case by case, for people who qualify.
Expanded access (paused)
Not a trial. The treatment can normally be requested outside a study, but is unavailable right now.
Expanded access (ended)
Not a trial. The treatment could once be requested outside a study, but no longer can.
Approved
The treatment has been approved, so it is available normally rather than through this programme.

When the status isn't known

Details not published
The full record has not been published yet, so there is little to show here.
Status unknown
This status has not been confirmed recently, so it may be out of date.

First seen Sep 16, 2026 · Last updated Sep 17, 2026 · Updated 1 time

Summary

Researchers are testing whether a low-frequency high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program can reduce body fat and liver fat in adults with central obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The trial enrolls 160 adults aged 18 to 60 who have a BMI of at least 25 and a large waistline. One group does supervised HIIT once a week, while the other receives standard lifestyle advice. The study measures liver fat with MRI spectroscopy and total body fat with DXA scans over a long follow-up period.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance
high-intensity interval training (a supervised exercise program)
What this could lead to
If it works, once-weekly HIIT could become a practical exercise option for people with obesity and fatty liver disease who find standard three-times-a-week programs hard to stick with.
What could go wrong
One weekly session may be too little to change liver fat or body fat, and participants might not keep up the routine over the long term. The trial also cannot prove cause and effect beyond what the comparison group shows.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Phase

Not a phased trial

Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.

Participants

160 people

The number who actually took part.

Started

Jul 2019

Finished

Sep 2024

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Ages

18 to 60 years

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: 1. Cantonese, Mandarin or English speaking, 2. Aged 18-60, 3. Central obesity, defined as BMI ≥25 (obesity classification adopted by the Hong Kong Government) with waist circumference of ≥90 cm for men and ≥80 cm for women (abdominal obesity according to the International Diabetes Federation's Chinese ethnic-specific criterion), 4. Willing to initiate lifestyle modification but not pharmacologic or surgical means for treating obesity. Exclusion criteria: 1. ≥150 minutes moderate-intensity exercise or ≥75 minutes vigorous exercise weekly, 2. Regular HIIT (≥1 weekly) in the past six months, 3. Medical history of cardiovascular disease, chronic pulmonary or kidney disease, heart failure, cancer, and liver disease except for NAFLD, 4. Somatic conditions that limit exercise participation (e.g., limb loss), 5. Impaired mobility due to chronic diseases (e.g., chronic arthritis/osteoarthritis, neurological, musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases), 6. Daily smoking habit, 7. Excess alcohol consumption (daily ≥30 g of alcohol for men and ≥20 g for women) in the past six months 8. Surgery, therapy or medication for obesity or weight loss in the past 6 months (e.g., gastric bypass, gastric band, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric reduction duodenal switch, and dietitian-prescribed dietary program). 9. During the study period, subjects identified with major physical changes that would considerably affect their body composition and weight (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and prolonged gastrointestinal and digestive disorders) will be excluded.

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Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

fatty liver disease metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease Obesity, Abdominal

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

Central obesity Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Contacts and locations

Locations

  • Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong

    Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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