Medical nutrition therapy in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – a review of literature

BACKGROUND AND AIM Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of liver disease worldwide, with a prevalence of 20%-40% in Western populations. The purpose of this article is to review data related to lifestyle changes in patients with NAFLD. METHOD We searched a public domain database (PubMed) with the following categories: disease (NAFLD, fatty liver, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis [NASH]) and intervention (lifestyle intervention, diet, nutrition) with each possible combination through 25 September 2014, for relevant articles. Review of articles was restricted to those published in English. We selected the studies involving adult patients only. CONCLUSION There is no consensus as to what diet or lifestyle approach is the best for NAFLD patients. However, patients with NAFLD may benefit from a moderate- to low-carbohydrate (40%-45% of total calories) diet, coupled with increased dietary MUFA and n-3 PUFAs, reduced SFAs. More CRT are needed to clarify the specific effects of different diets and dietary components on the health of NAFLD patients. ABBREVIATIONS NAFL = Non-alcoholic fatty liver, NAFLD = non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, NASH = non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, HCC = hepatocarcinoma, BEE = basal energy expenditure, CRT = A small clinical randomized trial showed that short-term carbohydrate restriction is more efficacious in reducing intrahepatic triglyceride, IHT = intrahepatic triglyceride, VLCD = Very low calorie diets, AST = aspartate aminotransferases, SFAs = saturated fatty acids.