Nutrigenomics in NAFLD version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Personalised Nutrition in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Feasibility of a Nutrigenomic Therapeutic Approach
IRAS ID
268502
Contact name
Quentin/ QA Anstee
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects 1 in 3 people and ranges from simple fatty liver through steatohepatitis (liver fat and inflammation) to cirrhosis (liver fat, inflammation and cell damage). NAFLD is more likely to develop in people who are overweight or have Type 2 diabetes. The number of people with NAFLD that have advanced liver disease is rising. NAFLD also increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Research is underway to help understand how the disease changes in different people over time. People with NAFLD that carry a gene called PNPLA3 are more likely to develop advanced liver disease. Currently, there are no effective drugs available and the main treatment is to lose weight and eat a healthy diet. The Mediterranean diet is a model of healthy eating that is often recommended for people with NAFLD. More research is needed on how it works in the liver to bring about its benefits. We also need to understand how the PNPLA3 gene affects an individual's response to different types of diet treatments.
We hope to perform a future randomised controlled trial (RCT) that will investigate if the PNPLA3 gene influences response to a Mediterranean diet in people with NAFLD. This information could help us to develop diet treatments that are more tailored to the individual. The current research will develop and test different methods for the future RCT to make sure they work together and are suitable for potential participants.
We intend to invite people with NAFLD to follow both a Mediterranean diet and an alternative diet over three months. We aim to capture information on how easy it is to follow the diets and to complete the study procedures. We are interested in testing cutting-edge indicators (biomarkers) from urine and blood, which might tell us how closely people are following the diets and provide a complete picture of fats in the liver. These tests might provide early data on whether people with the PNPLA3 gene respond differently to the diets.
Summary of Results
What were the results of the study?
This is a summary of the main results. These results are from all the participants combined who completed the study. The individual results of each participant might be different and are not presented in this summary.The researchers found that conducting a larger study in the future is possible by adjusting the diets, instruments, and main tests. In this future study, the researchers might explore how cost-effective it is, involve patients and the public more extensively, and create an interactive web-based platform to help people make dietary changes.
Although the research’s focus was not to examine the effects of the diets. They observed that the study helped people more closely follow the Mediterranean diet over four weeks. These dietary changes could potentially lead to positive benefits for heart and liver health.
How has this study helped patients and researchers?
The study’s results have helped the researchers learn important information about how to design the future study better and improve the diets. The findings have provided early indication of the potential benefits of a Mediterranean diet, in regions where people typically follow a western diet. These findings might help guide the development of a larger-scale study.The results of this study are based only on the participants included in this study. This summary shows only the main results from this one study. Other studies may provide new information or different results.
This summary is for informational purposes only.
Further studies are planned to build upon these findings.
REC name
East of Scotland Research Ethics Service REC 1
REC reference
19/ES/0112
Date of REC Opinion
30 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion