A new study from Uppsala University shows that a healthy Nordic diet can improve both type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
This diet is rich in fiber from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables and contains only small amounts of saturated fat. The results surprised the researchers and may shape future dietary guidelines for people with these conditions.
The study lasted one year and involved 150 adults with either type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
These participants were randomly divided into three diet groups: a healthy Nordic diet, a low-carb plant-based diet, and a control group that followed the standard Nordic Nutrition Recommendations. All groups were also told to limit red and processed meats, sugary drinks, candy, and salty snacks.
The healthy Nordic diet is a Northern European version of the well-known Mediterranean diet. It includes foods such as oat and rye flakes, whole-grain bread, oat bran, rapeseed oil, apples, pears, berries, cabbage, peas, almonds, salmon, mackerel, yogurt, and cultured milk products. This diet is low in saturated fat but high in fiber and healthy fats.
After a year, researchers found that people on the Nordic diet saw the greatest improvements. Their liver fat dropped by over 20%, and their blood sugar control improved. More than half of them no longer had signs of fatty liver disease. These benefits were better than what was seen in people following the other two diets.
The researchers had expected the low-carb, plant-based diet to work best. This anti-lipogenic diet was designed to reduce fat buildup in the body and focused on foods like nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, and plant oils.
While this diet did help reduce liver fat and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, the Nordic diet turned out to be more effective for lowering blood sugar, inflammation, and liver damage markers. It also helped reduce body weight more consistently.
One major surprise was how easy the Nordic diet was to follow. Unlike many diets that restrict calories and make people feel hungry, participants in this study could eat as much of the approved foods as they wanted. Even without counting calories, they still lost weight.
Interestingly, the weight loss alone did not explain all of the health improvements. About 56% of the liver fat reduction was linked to weight loss, but the rest was likely due to the quality of the food itself. This suggests the Nordic diet has direct effects on liver and blood sugar health, not just through cutting calories.
Lead researcher Professor Ulf Risérus believes this finding is especially important. It shows that a balanced, high-fiber diet could help treat serious conditions like diabetes and fatty liver disease without the need for extreme dieting.
These results may help guide new recommendations for people who are overweight and struggling with blood sugar problems.
The study’s main author, Michael Fridén, added that the diets were easy to stick with long-term, which is important for real-life success. Many people give up on strict diets because they are too hard to follow.
This study provides strong evidence that a healthy Nordic diet is not only good for general health but could also be used as a powerful tool in managing chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.
If you care about liver health, please read studies that refined fiber is link to liver cancer, and the best and worst foods for liver health.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how to boost your liver naturally, and simple ways to detox your liver.
The study is published in Nature Communications.
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