The Best Supplements For Fatty Liver Disease
If you are living with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease your best course of action is to work towards adapting a more Mediterranean Diet style of eating and increasing your weekly physical activity to at least 150-250 minutes per week.
Beyond that, there are several supplements with varying degrees of evidence supporting their use.
Supplement use may be more appealing to those who are not currently able or willing to enact lifestyle/dietary changes and should be done with the consultation of a healthcare provider to ensure safe and appropriate use.
With that said, let’s take a closer look to see which may be worth your time and consideration.
Probiotics are among the most well studied supplements for use in the management of NAFLD.
A recent meta-analysis out of the Medicine journal determined that using a multi-strain (containing multiple types of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium) probiotic over a period of several months may reduce liver fat storage, liver enzymes and inflammatory markers while improving liver functionality.
Read my article on probiotics for fatty liver disease if you’d like to dig deeper into the science.
Prebiotics are a special type of fibre that act as “food” for your gut bacteria and help them to grow and flourish.
They are very often paired together with probiotics in studies on fatty liver disease (combined, they are referred to as “synbiotics”) and their combined effectiveness may be greater than probiotics alone.
Most studies looking at prebiotics for fatty liver disease use either FOS or inulin in a serving size of 10-15 grams per day over a multi-month period.
Omega-3s
The Omega-3 fatty acids EPA & DHA may have unique liver health benefits in those living with NAFLD, contributing to a reduction in total liver fat, certain liver enzymes and other relevant biomarkers.
A 2018 systematic review & meta-analysis out of Nutrition Reviews determined that the effective dose required for this effect, based on studies reviewed, was 3 grams per day of EPA/DHA combined.
Omega-3s in the form of ALA are found in some plant-based foods such as walnuts, flaxseed, soy-based foods,…
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