Beta-Sitosterol Reduces the Risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

By Kyle J. Norton

The liver is the largest internal organ with a function which filters the blood from the intestinal tract before passing them to the heart and other parts of the body.

Additionally, the liver also produces bile to aid digestion and cholesterol to build strong cell membranes, production of vitamin D and steroid hormones.

Furthermore, the liver also processes a function of detoxifying chemicals and metabolizes drugs.

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 the noninflammatory fatty liver and inflammatory liver steatohepatitis.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the major causes of cirrhosis and liver cancer.

According to world statistics, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is normally known as a disease of the Western world(2). However, due to the economic prosperity of Southeast Asian(3), the disease also was found in a large population in the cities, causing concerns of many scientists in the region(4)(6).

According to the joint assessment of the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and risk factors for advanced fibrosis and mortality in the US, led by the Stanford University School of Medicine, "The prevalence of NAFLD in the United States (U.S.) has risen from 18% in 1988–1991 to 31% in 2011–2012. Estimates of NAFLD prevalence for adults in Western countries are 20–30%, with much higher prevalence in adults with obesity (80–90%), diabetes (30–50%), and hyperlipidemia (90%)"(5).

Among the more affluent regions of China, the prevalence rate of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is approximately 15%(6). The number may decrease substantially if the poor rural populations where obesity is non-existence are also taking into account(7).

The most common complications of NAFLD are 

*  increased mortality and increased cancer risk, particularly liver cancer, among patients discharged with a diagnosis of alcoholic fatty liver.

* increased progression of cirrhosis, accompanied by complications that include variceal bleeding, ascites, encephalopathy, and liver failure.

Beta-Sitosterol is a phytochemical in the class of Phytosterols, belongings to the group of Lipids, found abundantly in avocados, rice bran, wheat germ, corn oils, fennel, peanuts, soybeans, hawthorn, basil, buckwheat. etc.

On finding a potential phytochemical for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases, researchers examined the potential protective effects against NAFLD in growing rats fed a high-fructose diet, modeling children fed obesogenic diets.

The study included Forty-four 21-day old male rat pups randomly allocated to and administered the following treatments for 12 weeks:
* Group I- standard rat chow (SRC) + plain drinking water (PW) + plain gelatine cube (PC); 

* Group II- SRC+ 20% w/v fructose solution (FS) as drinking fluid + PC;

* Group III- SRC + FS + 100 mg/kg fenofibrate in gelatine cube; and

* Group IV- SRC + FS + 20 mg/kg β-sitosterol gelatine cube (Bst) and group V- SRC + PW + Bst.

According to the chemical analysis, rats treated with high-fructose diet caused the increased (p<0.05) hepatic lipid (total) accretion (>10% liver mass), micro- and macro-vesicular hepatic steatosis and hepatic inflammation.

In other words, a high-fructose diet in vivo increased the risk of NAFLD and possibly initiated the onset of NAFLD.

β-sitosterol and fenofibrate treatment restore the liver integrity by inhibiting the high-fructose diet-induced macrovesicular steatosis and prevented the progression of NAFLD to steatohepatitis.

Moreover, β-sitosterol was also found to mitigate diet-induced NAFLD.

Taken altogether, beta-sitosterol may be considered a supplement for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of beta-Sitosterol in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.


Natural Medicine for Fatty Liver And Obesity Reversal - The Revolutionary Findings To Achieve Optimal Health And Lose Weight

How To Get Rid Of Eye Floaters 
Contrary To Professionals Prediction, Floaters Can Be Cured Naturally 

Ovarian Cysts And PCOS Elimination
Holistic System In Existence That Will Show You. How-To
Permanently Eliminate All Types of Ovarian Cysts Within 2 Months

Back to Kyle J. Norton Homepage http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca


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.

Sources
(1) β-sitosterol mitigates the progression of high-fructose diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in growing male Sprague-Dawley rats by Gumede N1, Lembede B2, Nkomozepi P3, Brooksbank R4, Erlwanger KH5, Chivandi E. (PubMed)
(2) Intake of stigmasterol and β-sitosterol alters lipid metabolism and alleviates NAFLD in mice fed a high-fat western-style diet by Feng S1, Dai Z2, Liu AB3, Huang J4, Narsipur N3, Guo G5, Kong B5, Reuhl K5, Lu W6, Luo Z7, Yang CS. (PubMed)