Flaxseed supplementation in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a pilot randomized, open labeled, controlled study

Abstract

A two-arm randomized open labeled controlled clinical trial was conducted on 50 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Participants were assigned to take either a lifestyle modification (LM), or LM +30 g/day brown milled flaxseed for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, body weight, liver enzymes, insulin resistance and hepatic fibrosis and steatosis decreased significantly in both groups (p< 0.05); however, this reduction was significantly greater in those who took flaxseed supplementation (p < 0.05). The significant mean differences were reached in hepatic markers between flaxseed and control group, respectively: ALT [−11.12 compared with −3.7 U/L; P< 0.001], AST [−8.29 compared with −4 U/L; p < 0.001], GGT [−15.7 compared with −2.62 U/L; p < 0.001], fibrosis score [−1.26 compared with −0.77 kPa; p = 0.013] and steatosis score [−47 compared with −15.45 dB/m; p = 0.022]. In conclusion, flaxseed supplementation plus lifestyle modification is more effective than lifestyle modification alone for NAFLD management.

Keywords:

• Clinical trial
• flaxseed
• hepatic fibrosis
• liver enzymes
• non-alcoholic fatty liver disease