May 06, 2011
Fatty Liver Disease and Kids
Joanne Lai, MD
As children in the United States face rising rates of obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common cause of chronic liver disease. This disease, which has no established treatments, can lead to abnormal formation of fibrous tissue in the liver, cirrhosis and cancerous cell growth in the liver.
A multicenter randomized controlled trial to evaluate treatment of NAFLD in children found that neither Vitamin E nor metformin is superior to placebo in maintaining optimal liver function as measured by alanine aminotransferase (ALT), a liver enzyme that is associated with disease activity. Lifestyle modifications, such as dietary changes and exercise, remain important as further research is needed for NAFLD treatment in children. The trial results were just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.