Lifestyle Intervention and Vitamin E Therapy in Obese Children With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld) is a very common chronic disorder and obesity is thought to be the most common etiology of fatty infiltration of the liver.objectives: the objective of this study is to compare the effect of lifestyle intervention alone or in combination with vitamin e therapy in obese pediatric nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld).patients and methods: in the double-blind placebo study, 33 obese children with nafld from 2008 to 2009 were included. lifestyle intervention (balanced calorie diet, 1300-1800 kcal/d and physical activity) was prescribed to all. the patients were concurrently randomized to receive vitamin e 400 mg/d (n = 17)] or placebo (n = 16).results: at the end of six months of therapy there was significant change in body mass index, serum aminotransferases, triglycerides, total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels in both groups (p <0.001), but the improvement in all these factors was only marginally different between the two groups. alanine aminotransferase decreased to normal levels in 8 of 17 patients (47.05%) in the lifestyle and vitamin e group, and 7 of 16 patients (43.75%) in lifestyle and placebo group. similarly, the improvement in the grade of steatosis on ultrasonography after intervention was the same in both groups.conclusions: lifestyle intervention with diet and physical exercise in obese children with nafld were induced weight loss and was associated with a significant improvement in liver function. vitamin e did not seem to increase the efficacy of lifestyle intervention.