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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Treat Options Gastroenterol. 2020 May 2;18(2):270–280. doi: 10.1007/s11938-020-00290-2

Table 2:

Recent studies on the role of probiotics and prebiotics for the treatment of NAFLD

Study Population/ study design Intervention Primary outcomes Result
PROBIOTICS
Kobyliak et al. Minerva Med. 2018[46] 48 adults, RCT x8 weeks “Symbiter Omega” (probiotic + ω−3 FA) vs. placebo

  • Fatty liver index (FLI)

  • Liver stiffness (SWE)

  • ↓FLI

  • No change in stiffness

  • ↓GGT, TG, TC

  • ↓cytokines
Duseja et al. BMJ Open Gastro 2019[47] 39 adults, RCT, 1 year Multistrain probiotic and lifestyle change or placebo and lifestyle change

  • Histology (n=10/19 and n=5/20 patients receiving probiotics and placebo respectively had repeat biopsies)

  • ↓ballooning, lobular inflammation, NAS from baseline

  • NAS, ballooning and fibrosis improved compared to placebo
Ahn et al. Sci Rep 2o19[48] 68 adults, RCT, x12 weeks Probiotic mixtures vs. placebo

  • MRI-PDFF

    MRI+VFA

  • Weight loss with probiotics

  • Reduction of IHF which was similar to placebo
PREBIOTICS
Chambers et al. Diabetes Obes Metab 2019[49] 18 adults, RCT, x42 days Inulin-propionate ester (20 g/day) vs. inulin control

  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

  • No change in IHF from baseline

IHF: intrahepatic fat; MRI: Magnetic Resonance Elastography; NAS: NAFLD Activity Score; PDFF: Proton Density Fat Fraction; RCT: Randomized Controlled Trial; SWE: Shear Wave Elastography; TC: total cholesterol, TG: triglycerides; VFA: variable flip angle