Inadequate diet with high fat and high sugar or high intake of meat/fish, fried foods, spicy foods and tea can induce non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can eventually lead to the development of steatohepatitis (NASH) and liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. 

A new animal study conducted in Japan confirmed with previous studies that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are protective against NAFLD or they can be employed to treat the disease.  

In the current study,  mice were fed an atherogenic high-fat diet with or without n-3 PUFAs-eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6) supplemented for four weeks.  The diet was designed to induce NAFLD.

As a result, both EPA and DHA supplementations reduced the severity of the high-fat diet induced NASH as indicated in reduced hepatic lobular inflammation and increased serum transaminase activity.  The difference is, EPA was more effective at reducing hepatic triacylglycerol while DHA was more effective at preventing the high-fat diet induced hepatic inflammation and oxidative stress or ROS generation.

The study concluded that "both EPA and DHA could be effective for treatment of NAFLD and NASH".

Previous studies have indicated that the supplementation with omega 3 fatty acids may help NAFLD.   Some dietary components and supplements that also may help NAFLD include chlorella vulgaris, probiotics, and curcumin.  (David Liu)

Suzuki-Kemuriyama N, Matsuzaka T, Kuba M, Ohno H, Han SI, Takeuchi Y, Isaka M, Kobayashi K, Iwasaki H, Yatoh S, Suzuki H, Miyajima K, Nakae D, Yahagi N, Nakagawa Y, Sone H, Yamada N, Shimano H.  Different Effects of Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic Acids on Atherogenic High-Fat Diet-Induced Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Mice.   PLoS One. 2016 Jun 22;11(6) 

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