Scientists from The University of Sydney and elsewhere found that an anti-inflammatory diet may prevent common fatty liver disease.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading chronic liver condition.
It is a condition in which fat builds up in your liver. Nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are types of NAFLD.
If you have NASH, you have inflammation and liver damage, along with fat in your liver.
Usually, NAFLD is a silent disease with few or no symptoms. Certain health conditions and diseases—including obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes—make you more likely to develop NAFLD.
Low-grade chronic inflammation contributes to disease development.
Healthy diets could protect liver health and reduce inflammation. People may be able to prevent NAFLD by eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight.
If you have NAFLD, your doctor may recommend weight loss and diet changes.
In the current study, researchers aimed to review and describe the effects of an anti-inflammatory diet on NAFLD.
An anti-inflammatory diet favors fruits and vegetables, foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, whole grains, lean protein, healthful fats, and spices.
It discourages or limits the intake of processed foods, red meats, and alcohol.
The team reviewed 7 published studies, among which 6 were classified as low risk of bias, and studies ranged from high to very low certainty of evidence.
The team found eating an anti-inflammatory diet strongly reduced the severity of most liver diseases and inflammatory markers.
They conclude that anti-inflammatory diets showed benefits to NAFLD risk factors, severity, and inflammatory markers compared to the control diet.
But it is unclear whether disease risk reductions are related solely to the anti-inflammatory diet or weight loss resulting from caloric restriction.
Future research needs to use longer interventions, measures of inflammatory markers, and test normal-weight people to confirm findings at higher certainty.
The research was published in The European Journal of Nutrition and conducted by Jayden Abdallah et al.
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