Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: need for a balanced nutritional source

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are an increasingly common chronic liver disease closely associated with diabetes and obesity that have reached epidemic proportions. Reports on the prevalence of NAFLD have suggested that 27–34 % of the general population in the USA and 40–90 % of the obese population worldwide have this disease. Increasing urbanisation rate and associated inappropriate lifestyle changes are not only the risk factors of diabetes, but also unmask genetic predisposition in various populations for the metabolic syndrome and its manifestations including NAFLD and NASH. Lifestyle modifications and balanced nutrition are among the foremost management strategies along with ursodeoxycholic acid, metformin, vitamin E and pentoxifylline. Although weight reduction associated with current therapeutic strategies has shown some promise, maintaining it in the long run is largely unsuccessful. With the safety of pharmacotherapy still being uncertain and can be started only after confirmation, other reasonable interventions such as nutrition hold promise in preventing disease progression. The role of dietary components including branched-chain amino acids, methionine, choline and folic acid is currently being evaluated in various clinical trials. Nutritional approaches sought to overcome the limitations of pharmacotherapy also include evaluating the effects of natural ingredients, such as silymarin and spirulina, on liver disease. Understanding the specific interaction between nutrients and dietary needs in NAFLD and maintaining this balance through either a diet or a nutritional product thus becomes extremely important in providing a more realistic and feasible alternative to treat NAFLD. A planned complete nutritional combination addressing specific needs and helping to prevent the progression of NAFLD is the need of the hour to avert people from ending up with complications.