Dietary Supplement Could Help in Treating Fatty Liver

New study was successful in partly preventing fatty liver disease in rats. Rats with the fatty liver condition were fed with a dietary supplement known to boost good bacteria growth in the gut. Concurrent with the increased abundance of the bacteria, the content of liver fat reduced significantly. Also, preliminary results from a human study seem promising. The findings of the study are published in the journal Nutrients. It is estimated that a quarter of the Finnish population has fatty liver. Earlier, Satu Pekkala and her research team were able to treat mice's fatty liver by administering Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, a part of the gut microbiota with known anti-inflammatory properties. In the most recent research, the research team fed rats with a dietary supplement that partly prevented rats' fatty liver.

After these positive results, the investigation team performed a dietary intervention in rats, in which fatty liver was induced in rats. Then, they were fed with a diet enriched with XOS for 12 weeks. XOS is a dietary supplement which is easily available in natural products shops and online stores.

"The results of the study showed that XOS boosted the growth of the health-beneficial bacterium, and at the same time, significantly reduced the liver fat content of the rats," states Pekkala, summarizing the main results.

The most essential contributing factors to decreased liver fat were improved hepatic fat and glucose metabolism.

Source-Medindia