Artichoke May Cure Non Alcoholic Liver Disease (NAFLD), Human Studies Suggest

By Kyle J. Norton

On seeking natural therapy with no side effects, scientists may have found a herbal remedy for the prevention and treatment of nonalcoholic liver disease (NAFLD), according to studies.

Nonalcoholic liver disease is a chronic condition caused by fat accumulated over time in the liver, affecting people who drink little to no alcohol.

In other words, if you have fat that makes up over 5% of the liver, you are considered to have fatty liver disease.

Nonalcoholic liver disease can be classified into noninflammatory fatty liver and inflammatory liver steatohepatitis.

Most patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are asymptomatic. However,  in the later stage, patients may experience symptoms of enlarged liver, persistent fatigue and pain in the upper right abdomen, depending on the formation of scars.

According to the statistics provided by the Canadian Liver Foundation, more than 50% of Canadians are overweight and 75% of obese individuals are at risk of developing a simple fatty liver, including 23% of them will develop fatty liver with inflammation sometimes during their lifetime.

According to the epidemiological studies, patients with nonalcoholic liver disease have elevated levels of liver enzymes gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) which are the markers used to predict the severity of liver disease including fatty liver.

A blood test is required if your doctor suspects you might develop fatty liver disease, including NAFLD.

Other tests for diagnosis of liver fatty disease may include ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The exact causes of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are not identified. However, some researchers suggested unhealthy diet-induced obesity may be a major cause of the widespread NAFLD in the Western world.

Dr. Al-Dayyat HM, the lead scientist in the examination of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and associated dietary and lifestyle risk factors, said, "Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as the most common chronic liver disease worldwide with a reported prevalence ranging 20-30% depending on the studied populations".

And, "The high prevalence of NAFLD is probably due to the contemporary epidemics of obesity, unhealthy dietary pattern, and sedentary lifestyle. NAFLD patients are at increased risk of cardiovascular and liver-related mortality".

The findings strongly suggested if you are obese, you are at a substantially higher risk of fatty liver disease, compared to healthy weight individuals.

Artichoke is a perennial thistle of Cynara cardunculus species of the Cynara genus, belonging to the family Carduoideae native to Southern Europe around the Mediterranean.

The herbal plant has been used in traditional medicine as a liver protective and detoxified agent, and to treat digestive disorders, abdominal pain gas and bloating, etc.

In the course od finding a herbal remedy for the treatment of nonalcoholic liver disease (NAFLD), researchers evaluated the potential to attenuate lipid disturbances of Jerusalem artichoke (JA).

Selected Wistar rats included in the study were fed a control diet, a 60 % fructose-enriched diet (FRU), or an FRU with 10 % JA (n 6-7) for 4 weeks.

According to liver samples collected for biochemical and global gene expression analysis, pretreatment of dietary JA supplementation showed strong activity against hepatic TAG accumulation induced by the FRU.

Futhermore, JA also demonstrated significant inhibition of inflammation-inducing the expression of proteins associated with liver fatty acid synthesis, and development of liver fibrosis.

The results suggested that JA processes beneficial effects in the prevention of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in molecular levels.

In order to collect more information about artichoke anti-non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, scientists investigated the artichoke leaf extract (ALE) potential hepatoprotective activity in patients with NAFLD.

100 subjects with ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD randomized to either ALE 600 mg daily or placebo for a 2-month period were included in the randomized double-blind placebo-controlled parallel-group trial. 

According to the results from 90 patients completed the study (49 ALE and 41 placeboes), intake of ALE did not exert any side effects.

ALE at the end of experiment displays a liver protective effect by increasing the hepatic vein flow reducing portal vein diameter (p < .001) and liver size (p < .001).

Injection of ALE also inhibited the liver damage and oxidative stress markers.

Moreover, the artichoke leaf extract also is found to reduce the levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglyceride concentrations, according to the assays.

Taken altogether, artichoke may be considered a functional remedy for the prevention and treatment of non-alcoholic liver disease, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References

(1) Beneficial effects of soluble dietary Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) in the prevention of the onset of type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in high-fructose diet-fed rats by Chang WC1, Jia H2, Aw W2, Saito K2, Hasegawa S3, Kato H. (PubMed)
(2) Efficacy of artichoke leaf extract in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A pilot double-blind randomized controlled trial by Panahi Y1, Kianpour P2, Mohtashami R3, Atkin SL4, Butler AE5, Jafari R6, Badeli R7, Sahebkar A. (PubMed)