Systematic review on intervention with prebiotics/probiotics in patients with obesity-related nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Abstract

ABSTRACT  Background: The gut microbiota is modulated by metabolic derangements, such as nutrition overload and obesity. Aim: The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the role of these gut modifiers in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obesity. Methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE (from 1946), PubMed (from 1946) and EMBASE (from 1949) databases through May 2014 was carried out to identify relevant articles. The search terms were ‘probiotic’ AND ‘NAFLD’, ‘prebiotic’ AND ‘NAFLD’, ‘antibiotic’ AND ‘NAFLD’, ‘probiotics’ AND ‘obesity’, ‘prebiotic’ AND ‘obesity’ or ‘antibiotic’ AND ‘obesity’; these terms were searched as text word in ‘clinical trials’ and as exploded medical subject headings where possible. Results: The evidence in the literature is scant, due to the scarcity of appropriately powered, randomized, controlled clinical trials, involving various centers and population of different origin. Conclusion: Although probiotics and prebiotics have been proposed in the treatment and prevention of patients with obesity-related NAFLD, their therapeutic use is not supported by high-quality clinical studies.