Lifestyle and silymarin: a fight against liver damage in NAFLD associated - prediabetic disease.

backgroundNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is common in both prediabetic patients and healthy overweight individuals, yet it remains understudied. This study investigates the effects of hepatic steatosis on fibrosis and evaluates the major predictors of liver injury in prediabetes and whether this damage is reversible with Mediterranean diet and administration of the nutraceutical silymarin.

methodsFirst, a case-control study was conducted in which 212 patients with prediabetes, not known to have NAFLD, and 126 healthy controls underwent clinical evaluation, transient elastography with measurement of liver stiffness (LS) and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP). Subsequently, the 212 prediabetic patients were enrolled into a prospective randomized interventional study: 104 were allocated to Mediterranean diet alone while 108 followed Mediterranean diet plus supplementation with silymarin (a flavonolignan complex isolated from

resultsIn the case-control study, 29% of prediabetic patients have significant fibrosis defined as LS ≥ 7.9 kPa vs only 3% of controls (

conclusionPNPLA3 genotype CG/GG and elevated BMI are the major predictors of significant fibrosis in prediabetic patients prior to intervention in this study. Mediterranean diet either alone or with silymarin treatment for 6 months leads to significant regression of liver damage and improvement of the glycemic profile in prediabetic patients. Yet, as combination treatment of silymarin with Mediterranean diet shows significant reduction of HbA1c when compared to diet alone, this suggests that silymarin may exert an independent anti-glycemic action.