question about ast/alt

[Lovesfood22]

Hi there,

this was a little over a month ago. But should I be concerned about how low my ast number is?

[Kristian]

In general terms, AST and ALT are produced by cells in the liver. As they are put under stress or cells are damaged due to an insult or injury, then that damage allows the enzymes to escape into the bloodstream. If numbers are low, it generally means there's not much going on that is having much of an impact on the liver. So that's usually a good thing.Of course, you hear occaisionally of folks with low numbers but extensive liver damage. Yes that can occur when there is so much damage the number of cells left to produce the enzymes are much lower. However in those cases the person would be severely debilitated and severely ill and you wouldn't need a check on the enzymes to see that, lol.

[Lovesfood22 in reply to Kristian]

Thank you for sharing that!

My AST was 0,14 and the lowest normal range is 0,22

My ALT was 0,23

Does that seem ok? My Dr didn’t say anything but now I’m looking at it and of course wondering.

[Kristian in reply to Lovesfood22]

Can't really say as the numbers quoted don't correlate with the units normally used. For ALT and AST it's usually quoted in International Units per Litre, so U/L. Lab reference ranges vary but in the uk ALT is anything from 4 to 50 being normal, AST is similar. So basically anywhere under the upper limit tends to be be viewed as fine. I thereforefore wouldn't stress too much about it being low, especially as your doctor isn't concerned and they are able to take everything in context.

[Realy in reply to Kristian]

is the ast alt ratio only used if one or both Levels are above normal?!

[Lovesfood22 in reply to Kristian]

I’m in Europe so it may be different? I’m not sure. I guess because it was on the lower end and outside of range I was concerned.

[Mamaof2kids]

being low is a good thing so why worry? Worry if it is over that for sure since that means liver damage which my cousin died at 33 from liver failure

[Lovesfood22 in reply to Mamaof2kids]

Omg I’m so sorry to hear that. I can’t even imagine how difficult that was..

Well I saw it was out of range so that was my concern. I don’t know if it being TOO low was of concern.