New York: According to a new study carried out by the US researchers revealed that diets, which are high in starchy carbohydrates not only inflate waists but also lead to fatty liver that raises the chance of swelling that can cause hepatitis and even death.

According to lead researcher Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital in Boston, “Our experiment creates a very strong argument that a high-glycaemic index diet causes, and a low-glycaemic index diet prevents, fatty liver in humans.”

The scientists came to the decision after analyzing the results of starchy foods on mice by giving them a high or low-glycaemic form of cornstarch. Each diet contained equivalent quantity of total calories, fat, protein and carbohydrate.

According to the study, mice on the low-glycaemic diet were thin whereas those on the high-glycaemic diet had doubled the average amount of fat in their bodies, blood and livers.

The results of the study have been published in 'Obesity' medical journal.

Dr. Ludwig and his group are planning to prove the results in a recently launched clinical experiment in Boston and provide evidence that a low-glycaemic diet can reverse fatty liver in obese kids.

"Low-fat diets are currently the standard treatment but many children with fatty liver don't respond to them. We think it is a misconception that the fat you are eating goes into the liver," according to him.