Research

Hormonal

Hepatic Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase 1 (SCD1) activity is significantly increased in human fatty liver and positively correlates with liver fat content and diacylglycerol concentrations.

High SCD1 activity is a hallmark of fatty liver in humans. This enzyme helps convert saturated fats into monounsaturated fats (like oleic acid). The study shows that as liver fat increases, SCD1 activity increases. This suggests that dietary fats high in saturated fatty acids might fuel this process, leading to more monounsaturated fats and subsequently more triglycerides/DAGs in the liver.

GoodSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Liver fat percent was positively related to hepatic stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) activity index (r = 0.70, P = 0.003)... Hepatic SCD1 activity index was positively related to the concentrations of diacylglycerols (r = 0.71, P = 0.002).
Anna Kotronen et al. · Diabetes · 2008

Why this rating

Strong correlation (r=0.70) but small sample size (n=16).

Source

Hepatic Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase (SCD)-1 Activity and Diacylglycerol but Not Ceramide Concentrations Are Increased in the Nonalcoholic Human Fatty Liver

Anna Kotronen et al. · Diabetes · 2008

DOI 10.2337/db08-1074

cross_sectional · n=16Cited 246×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →