Title:Natural Products on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
VOLUME: 16 ISSUE: 12
Author(s):Jiao-Ya Xu, Li Zhang, Zhong-Ping Li and Guang Ji
Affiliation:Institute of Digestive Disease Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 725 south Wanping Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
Keywords:Natural products, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, lipid metabolism, glucose metabolism, inflammation, endoplasmic
reticulum stress.
Abstract:Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic disorder of lipid and carbohydrate
metabolism and is often associated with endoplasmic reticulum stress, energy homeostasis dysregulation,
and inflammation at cellular and molecular levels. Use of currently available anti-hyperlipidemia,
hypoglycemia, or anti-inflammation drugs to treat NAFLD has not achieved desirable outcomes. A
growing attention thus has been paid towards natural products as an alternative means in treating
NALFD. Some of the natural products apparently possess the properties of ameliorating symptoms of
NAFLD through restoration of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and energy homeostasis. Data from recent animal and
human studies concerning the use of natural products in the treatment of NAFLD are analyzed, and the potential underlying
mechanisms are discussed.
