5 liver dietary health reports for March Nutrition Month

Diet and lifestyle are tied closely with liver health both as risk factors for complications such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and as the best intervention in the case of fatty liver development and progression.

In recognition of March Nutrition Month, Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease presents the following reports on diet and liver health, including NAFLD outcomes from ketogenic diets, low-sugar diets and Mediterranean diets.

Ketogenic diet improves NAFLD, fibrosis in patients with type 2 diabetes

Comprehensive continuous care intervention with a ketogenic diet significantly improved surrogate markers of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and advanced fibrosis in patients with type 2 diabetes after 1 year, according to data published in BMJ Open.

Eduardo Vilar -Gomez, MD, PhD, from the Indiana University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote that low-carbohydrate, high-fat and ketogenic diets have demonstrated significant weight loss effects in adults with overweight and obesity. In the short-term, these diets have also correlated with improved insulin sensitivity and glycemic control. Read more

Low sugar diet for pediatric NAFLD improves hepatic steatosis

An 8-week diet low in free sugar content significantly improved hepatic steatosis among adolescent boys with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease compared with their usual diet, according to a study published in JAMA.

“There are no approved pharmacological therapies for the treatment of NAFLD,” Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, MD, from the University of California in San Diego, and colleagues wrote. “Pediatric guidelines recommend ‘lifestyle modification to improve diet,’ but do not support one specific diet over another because of the limited available evidence. Among the various dietary options, limiting sugar intake is easily targetable in part because sugar is not a required nutrient.” Read more

Stress, environment key barriers to Mediterranean diet uptake for NAFLD

Barriers to initiating a Mediterranean diet — shown to improve liver health in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease — included an obesogenic environment, life stressors, and demand for convenience, according to a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Liver Disease.

“Poor understanding about NAFLD appeared to influence the priority placed on following dietary advice,” Laura Haigh from the Liver Research Group at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, and colleagues wrote. “NAFLD causality and the strength of these associations produced responses that incorporated physiological drivers, lifestyle behaviors and genetic predisposition.” Read more

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Adherence to ‘Healthy Eating Index’ diet may reduce liver cancer risk

Adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index2010 dietary pattern may reduce the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a study published in Hepatology.

“Diets are complex combinations of nutrients and other compounds that act synergistically within individual foods and across food combinations, thus, evaluating the association of dietary pattern with health outcomes may capture dietary effects on health more completely,” Xuehong Zhang, MD, from Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues wrote. Read more

Malnutrition decreases quality of life, social function in cirrhosis

Malnutrition as measured by subjective global assessment correlated significantly with decreased health-related quality of life in patients with cirrhosis, according to research presented at the American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting.

“I was quite surprised by how limited the literature was in regards to malnutrition and quality of life in cirrhosis, given that the prevalence of malnutrition in cirrhosis is so high and the complications of malnutrition are quite profound, including infections, portal hypertension and increased hospitalizations and mortality,” Elaine Chiu, MD, RD, from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, said during her presentation. Read more