Plant-Based Foods and Their Bioactive Compounds on Fatty Liver Disease: Effects, Mechanisms, and Clinical Application.

Hang-Yu Li, Ren-You Gan, Ao Shang, Qian-Qian Mao, Quan-Cai Sun, Ding-Tao Wu, Fang Geng, Xiao-Qin He, Hua-Bin Li

Journal: Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity 2021;2021():6621644

PMID: 33728021

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Plain Language Summary

Fatty liver disease is the accumulation of fats and inflammation associated with poor dietary patterns. Plant-based foods have been recommended to manage this disease and this review aimed to highlight the most recent data on the mechanisms for this. Beyond their obvious capabilities of being low in fat, plant-based foods may contain naturally occurring compounds that can help alleviate fatty liver disease through improved inflammation, improved gut microbiota and cellular changes. In support of this, clinical benefits on fatty liver outcomes have been reported in the research. There may be safety issues with isolating certain natural compounds from plant-based foods, which requires more research, however plant-based foods is a promising therapy for fatty liver disease.

Abstract

Fatty liver disease (FLD), including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), is a serious chronic metabolic disease that affects a wide range of people. Lipid accumulation accompanied by oxidative stress and inflammation in the liver is the most important pathogenesis of FLD. The plant-based, high-fiber, and low-fat diet has been recommended to manage FLD for a long time. This review discusses the current state of the art into the effects, mechanisms, and clinical application of plant-based foods in NAFLD and AFLD, with highlighting related molecular mechanisms. Epidemiological evidence revealed that the consumption of several plant-based foods was beneficial to alleviating FLD. Further experimental studies found out that fruits, spices, teas, coffee, and other plants, as well as their bioactive compounds, such as resveratrol, anthocyanin, curcumin, and tea polyphenols, could alleviate FLD by ameliorating hepatic steatosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, gut dysbiosis, and apoptosis, as well as regulating autophagy and ethanol metabolism. More importantly, clinical trials confirmed the beneficial effects of plant-based foods on patients with fatty liver. However, several issues need to be further studied especially the safety and effective doses of plant-based foods and their bioactive compounds. Overall, certain plant-based foods are promising natural sources of bioactive compounds to prevent and alleviate fatty liver disease.

Address: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.; Research Center for Plants and Human Health, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China.; School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212001, China.; Institute of Food Processing and Safety, College of Food Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, China.; Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), School of Food and Biological Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China.

DOI: 10.1155/2021/6621644