Nutritional treatment of non alcoholic fatty liver disease: relevant aspects of the macronutrient composition

Abstract

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition in which there is an excessive accumulation of fat into the liver tissue, non-related to abusive ethanol consumption. The etiology is multifactorial and mostly related to ether excessive lipid synthesis and/or reduced lipid excretion on genetically predisposed people. Objective: the aim of this manuscript is to describe the main mechanisms of NAFLD development, prevention and treatment with nutritional emphasis. Methods: review of literature. Results: although it is a condition related to fat liver accumulation, NAFLD seam not to be related only to the amount of dietary fat consumption but to sedentarism and positive caloric balance intake. Conclusion: the main treatment for NAFLD is weight loss aiming 10% of body weight, which often requires dietary changes and physical activities practices. Regarding to diet, there were compared studies with hypercaloric, normocaloric, hipocaloric, low carb/high fat, low fat/high carb and mediterranean diet for NAFLD control and patients quality of life improvement.

Keywords

• esteatose hepática. doença hepática gordurosa não alcoólica. dieta. lipídios. carboidratos.