Fatty liver disease is on the rise, but gym training may help combat it, a new study shows.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which afflicts 30 percent of the world’s population, raises risk of diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease.

People with the condition often lack energy to perform aerobic exercise, but now researchers at Haifa University and Tel Aviv Medical Center have found that resistance exercise, a type of weight training, may effectively treat the disease.

Their study involved 82 people ages 20 to 65 with fatty liver disease. Subjects were divided into two groups, with one asked to perform a 40 minutes of resistance training three times a week. The control group performed stretching exercises. Both groups were asked not to make any dietary or other changes.

The group that performed the resistance training was found to have decreased the fat content of their liver. Cholesterol levels also dropped, as did the amount of ferritin in their blood, a marker of liver damage.

Since no effective treatment exists for fatty liver disease, the researchers are hoping that their study will lead to an increased use of resistance training to help combat this serious ailment.