Table 4.

Potential effects of dietary nutrients in the prevention and treatment of obesity and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Nutrient	Potential effects	Ref.
Macronutrients
Complex CHO/DF	Microbiota modulation, protection of gut colonization by pathogenic species, reduction of energy intake	Mann et al[107] 2007
MUFAs	Increased fatty acid oxidation and inhibition of lipogenesis	Assy et al[108] 2009; Soriguer et al[109] 2006
PUFAs	Increased fatty acid oxidation and insulin sensitivity in target tissues, inhibition of lipogenesis and anti-inflammatory	Teran-Garcia et al[110] 2007; Stienstra et al[111] 2007
Micronutrients
Vitamins C/E	Antioxidant and anti-fibrogenic	Chang et al[112] 2006; Parola et al[113] 1992
Choline/folic acid	Hyperhomocysteinemia prevention and lipid transport	Vance[114] 2008
Magnesium	Immunomodulatory, antioxidant and regulation of blood glucose levels	Takemoto et al[115] 2013
Vitamin D	Increased insulin sensitivity in target tissues	Takiishi et al[116] 2010
Food functional components
Lycopene	Antioxidant, induction of detoxifying enzymes, anti-inflammatory	Ip et al[117] 2013
Polyphenols	Antioxidant, chemopreventive, immunomodulatory, apoptosis and detoxifying enzymes induction, anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative actions	Scalbert et al[118] 2005; Fraga[119] 2007; Pandey et al[120] 2009
Probiotics (Lactobacillus)	Microbiota modulation, immunomodulatory, production of antibacterial substances and anti-inflammatory effect	Iacono et al[121] 2011

CHO: Carbohydrates; DF: Dietary fiber; MUFAs: Monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFAs: Polyunsaturated fatty acids.