Fatty liver is a condition in which fat makes up more than 10 percent of the liver’s weight. It can lead to liver inflammation or steatohepatitis. Alcohol abuse may cause steatohepatitis, but it can also arise in the absence of alcohol consumption, in which case it’s known as NASH, or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Although there is no medical treatment for fatty liver, some herbal remedies appear to ease its effects. However, don’t take any remedy until you’ve consulted with your doctor.
Green Tea Extract
A sharp rise in the incidence of fatty liver and NASH has accompanied the increase in obesity in America. Looking for ways to address this growing problem, researchers at the University of Connecticut’s Department of Nutritional Sciences conducted an animal study to see what, if any, effects that green tea extract had in preventing the buildup of lipids, or fats, in the livers of test animals. In their findings, published in the February 2008 issue of The Journal of Nutrition, researchers revealed that obese mice that were fed green tea extract had significantly lower lipid concentrations in their livers than mice that didn’t receive the GTE. Their findings suggest that green tea extract protects against fatty liver “by limiting hepatic lipid accumulation and injury without affecting hepatic antioxidant status and adiponectin-mediated lipid metabolism,” and the researchers recommend further study on these effects. Consult with a medical professional before initiating any regimen of self-treatment.
Phyllanthus Urinaria
Herbalists and practitioners of traditional medicine for centuries have used phyllanthus urinaria, an herb that grows naturally in tropical climates, to treat liver-related ailments. Chinese researchers in the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics at Hong Kong’s Institute of Digestive Disease studied the effects of this herb – both in vitro and in vivo – on nutritional steatohepatitis, a form of fatty liver inflammation that can be traced to dietary or metabolic causes. For the purposes of in vitro testing, normal liver cells were exposed for 24 hours each to a methionine-and-choline-deficient, or MCD, culture medium in both the presence and absence of phyllanthus urinaria. They concluded, according to findings published in the February 2008 issue of Hepatology, that the herb “effectively alleviated the steatohepatitis induced by the MCD, probably through dampening oxidative stress, ameliorating inflammation and decreasing lipid accumulation.” Don’t take this or any other herbal remedy until you have consulted with your doctor.
Milk Thistle
Milk thistle, or silybum marianum, also has a long history in herbal medicine and has often been used to treat liver-related illness. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine reports that the herb is the most popular alternative treatment for Americans with liver disease. The center acknowledges that small-scale studies of the herb’s efficacy in the treatment of steatohepatitis have turned up promising data but cautions that further study is needed. On his website, Andrew Weil, M.D., a pioneer in integrative medicine, declares unequivocally that a colleague, Qingcai Zhang, M.D., an expert on hepatitis, “successfully treats fatty liver and NASH with milk thistle.”
References
- American Liver Foundation: Fatty Liver
- The Journal of Nutrition; Green Tea Extract Protects Leptin-Deficient, Spontaneously Obese Mice from Hepatic Steatosis and Injury; R.S. Bruno et al.; February 2008.
- Hepatology; Phyllanthus Urinaria Ameliorates the Severity of Nutritional Steatohepatitis Both in Vitro and in Vivo; B. Shen et al.; February 2008.
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Herbs at a Glance: Milk Thistle
- Weil: Q and A Library: Fighting Fatty Liver?
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