TABLE 1.
The clinical characters of the included patients and studies.
| References | Ethnicity | Study design | Subjects No. (case/control) | Age of case (years) | Intervention | Follow-up duration | Outcomes |
| Derosa et al. (11) | Caucasian | RCT | 30/30 | >18 years | Patients were randomized to take placebo or VSL#3R, 2 sachets/day | 3 months | No change in BMI, FPG, TC, LDL-C, HDL-C, and ADN. Tg, Hs-CRP, GGT, Transaminases, AST/ALT ratio, and HSI decreased |
| Mohamad Nor et al. (9) | Asian | RCT | 17/22 | 53.44 (14.13) | Probiotics containing six different Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species at a concentration of 30 billion CFU were used for patients | 6 months | No changes in hepatic steatosis fibrosis levels, AST, total cholesterol, Tg, glucose, CD4+ T lymphocytes. CD8+ T lymphocytes, ZO-1 decreased. |
| Crommen et al. (10) | European | RCT | 25/23 | 38 (79) | The patients were treated with a specifically tailored multistrain probiotic powder | 3 months | ASAT, Tg, liver fibrosis score, the visceral adiposity index decreased. |
| Rodrigo et al. (12) | European | RCT | 43/41 | 11.3 (1.9) | Probiotics (BioKult 14 strain capsule) for 6 months | 6 months | Tg, AST, ALT, AST/ALT ratio, and alkaline phosphatase decreased. |
| Chong et al. (30) | European | RCT | 19/16 | 57 (8) | Patients were randomly allocated to take 2 sachets VSL#3 probiotic. | 2.5 months | No significantly improve insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, inflammation, or liver injury. |
| Kavyani et al. (8) | European | RCT | 18/18 | 43.72 (4.49) | The intervention group received fat (∼20 g) as CSO with 10 g/d resistant dextrin and the placebo group received a similar amount of CSO and maltodextrin. | 3 months | Insulin concentration, HOMA-IR, hs-CRP, endotoxin, cortisol, GHQ, DASS, and MDA decreased, TAC and superoxide dismutase increased. |
| Scorletti et al. (16) | European | RCT | 55/49 | 50.8 (12.6) | Patients received fructo-oligosaccharides with a degree of polymerization < 10 at 4 g/twice a day. | 14 months | No reduction in liver fat, patients had higher Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium, and lower in Oscillibacter and Alistipes. |
| Cai et al. (28) | Asian | RCT | 70/70 | 46.13 (12.72) | Live Combined Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Enterococcus Powder was given orally, 1 g/time, 2 times/d for the patients. | 3 months | ALT, AST, GGT, TC, TG, HOMA-IR, NAS, and conditions of fecal flora in the observation group were better than those in the control group. |
| Abhari et al. (15) | European | RCT | 23/22 | 47.7 (11.4) | Patients received either synbiotic or placebo capsules for 12 weeks. | 3 months | Decrease AST, GST, TNF-α, NF-kB, and hepatic steatosis |
| Behrouz et al. (18) | European | RCT | 30/29/30 | 38.46 (7.11) | The patients were randomly assigned to the three groups: A (probiotic capsules and placebo of prebiotic), B (prebiotic powder and placebo of probiotic), and C (placebo of probiotic and placebo of prebiotic) | 3 months | Decreased triglyceride, ALT, AST, GGT, hsCRP, and alkaline phosphatase. Triglyceride, LDL-C, ALT, AST, and GGT differed in prebiotic group in comparison to the placebo. |
| Sadrkabir et al. (29) | European | RCT | 33/28 | 43.26 (11.42) | The intervention group received daily 2 capsules of 500 mg of GeriLact. | 2 months | Decrease ALT, AST, cholesterol levels, no significant changes in FBS, triglycerides, LDL, and HDL; fatty liver grade was improved by 63.6% in the intervention group |
Age of case was expressed as mean (SD).
BMI, Body mass index; FPG, fasting plasma glucose; TC, total cholesterol; LDL-c, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; HDL-c, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; AND, adiponectin; TG, Triglycerides; Hs-CRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; AST, Aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; HIS, hepatic steatosis index; LBP, lycium barbarum polysaccharide; TAC, total antioxidant capacity; MDA, malondialdehyde; CSO, Camelina sativa oil; DASS, depression, anxiety and stress scale; GHQ, general health questionnaire; GGT, γ-glutamyltransferase; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α; NF-kB, nuclear factor-kB.