Mediterranean-Oriented Dietary Intervention Is Effective to Reduce Liver Steatosis in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Results from an Italian Clinical Trial

Abstract

Results: One hundred and fifty five subjects aged 20-59 years underwent (i) liver ultrasound (US), (ii) clinical and anthropometric evaluations, (iii) blood tests, and (iv) assessment of dietary habits. According to US evaluation, 73 of them had severe, moderate, or mild liver steatosis (NAFLD patients) and 82 had no liver steatosis (healthy controls). Fifty-eight NAFLD patients and 73 controls completed the study. Among NAFLD patients, 26 (45%) downgraded steatosis severity, 12 of which achieved complete steatosis regression (21%). Three of the healthy controls developed NAFLD. The NAFLD patients improved their dietary habits and reduced BMI and waist circumference, during the study period, more than healthy controls. Liver steatosis remission/regression was independent of changes in BMI or liver enzymes and was more frequent among patients with mild steatosis at baseline.

Conclusions: Mediterranean dietary advices, without a personalised meal planning, were efficient in reducing/remitting NAFLD, especially among patients with mild disease, which argues in favour of early identification and lifestyle intervention. This trial is registered with NCT03300661.

Figure 1

Flowchart of the study. T0: time 0 (baseline); T3: 3 months; T6: 6 months; T9: 9 months; T12: 12 months.

Figure 2

Steatosis grade of NAFLD patients at baseline and after 12 months of lifestyle intervention.

Figure 3

Plot of Medscore distribution among NAFLD patients (continuous line) and controls (dotted line) at baseline (T0) (a) and at 12th month (T12) (b).