Probiotics in the treatment of fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is an extremely common condition caused by the deposition of fat within liver cells leading to inflammation. The overall prevalence worldwide is estimated to be 32%.If left untreated, irreversible complications like liver cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure can occur.

Cause of NAFLD

One root cause of fatty liver is diet and obesity. In recent years, studies have suggested that an unhealthy diet may result in gut dysbiosis which in turn contributes to fatty liver disease and liver inflammation. In this regard, probiotics may be used in conjunction with diet, exercise and weight loss as an overall strategy to reverse fatty liver disease.

When you have too much fats stored in the liver-you’ll develop what we term medically as “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease” or NAFLD in short.

Gut-liver axis

A large amount of circulating blood around the intestines travels directly to the liver before reaching the rest of our body. When our body is functioning normally, the toxins within our gut are prevented from reaching the bloodstream through two barriers.

The first barrier is the wall of our intestines. It prevents bad bacteria and toxins from entering the intestinal blood vessels. The second barrier is the liver which acts a filtering system, removing toxins, byproduct and other harmful substances within the blood coming from the gut, preventing them from entering our body’s main blood circulation.

Recent studies have suggested that the increased consumption of food rich in fat and sugar may alter the gut microbiota resulting in an increase in bad bacteria.

Bad bacteria does 2 things:

1) Produces more metabolic toxins within the gut

2) Makes intestinal wall more leaky

Effectively, this means more toxins enter the intestinal circulation, travelling to the liver. As a result, our liver has to work doubly hard in removing more toxins from the gut, and in doing so, becoming swollen and inflamed!

Following that thought, more research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of using probiotics to modulate the gut microbiota to reduce toxin productions and maintain intestinal barrier.

Use of probiotics to reverse fatty liver disease

Results have been promising. Probiotics supplementation has been shown to:

• reduce leaky gut syndrome
• reduce fat deposition in liver
• reduce liver inflammation
• improve liver enzymes as well as total cholesterol levels

Probiotics supplementation has been shown to:

Results have been promising. Probiotics supplementation has been shown to:

• reduce leaky gut syndrome
• reduce fat deposition in liver
• reduce liver inflammation
• improve liver enzymes as well as total cholesterol levels

The mainstay of treatment for fatty liver disease would still be:

1) A well-balanced diet - with more fruits and vegetables, less fat and sugar

2) Lots of exercise - aim to achieve 150 minutes of exercise a week

To date, there is no effective drug therapy against fatty liver disease. However, there are more evidences now to suggest that probiotics supplementation may have hepatoprotective effect against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Hence, probiotics, in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle may help in preventing or even reversing fatty liver.