(Tuesday, April 26, HealthDay News) - either vitamin e or diabetes drugs metformin worked better than a placebo in the treatment of fatty liver in children diseases, according to new research.
Liver disease fat is more common, but not well known, which can lead to very serious complications, such as cirrhosis of the liver. United States, 20 per cent of adults and 5 per cent of children have the disorder, which is strongly linked to obesity, according to the American College of Gastroenterology.
He had hoped that the vitamin e or metformin may help kids battle fatty liver disease. But when the researchers compared two treatments versus placebo on their ability to improve the results of a blood test that measures the health of the liver, they have not found any statistically significant difference.
However, when the researchers compared the results of a biopsy of the liver is at baseline and at the end of the study, vitamin e has made are promising in the improvement of a more evolutionary form of the disease, called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
"The fatty liver disease is a common disease in children that may have significant consequences for health." There are currently developed therapies tested in various ways, and I have reason to believe that vitamin e promising to help resolve [NASH] in children who, says author of the study, Dr. Joel LavineHead of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and nutrition at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
In disease of the liver fatty, fat collects in the liver. The disease is associated with overweight and obesity, but not all those who have a fatty liver disease is overweight, according to Lavine. It usually causes no symptoms, and for most of the people who, it causes serious health problems.
However, some people who have the disease evolve NASH, which implies an inflammation and scarring in the liver that may affect the function of this vital organ. But, at the present time, there is no easy way to tell which could evolve into a more serious disease. The only way to confirm NASH is through a biopsy of the liver, which is an invasive procedure. Liver function test known by the initials ALT can provide clues on the health of the liver, but cannot confirm NASH permanently.
Lifestyle changes, including weight loss, are the current recommended treatment for fatty liver disease.
This study compares two potential treatments for a disease of the fatty liver in children: vitamin e and type 2 diabetes drug metformin. Lavine and colleagues randomly placed 173 children in one of three treatment groups, including a placebo group. Children of the Group of vitamin e took 800 international units per day, and those in the metformin Group took 1000 milligrams per day for almost two years.
All children involved in the study were aged 8 to 17, and were all confirmed biopsy fatty liver disease. They were also elevated ALT levels, suggesting that certain hepatic lesions may already occurred. Forty - two percent of children had already been diagnosed with Nash.
Because it is non-invasive and test most commonly used to measure the progress of the fatty liver disease, has chosen the researchers to measure ALT levels as their primary evaluation.
They have not found any statistically significant difference between the children taking vitamin E, metformin or placebo, based on the ALT levels.
However, when the researchers looked at biopsies taken at baseline and at the end of the study in children with NASH, 58% of the vitamin e group is no longer had NASH compared to 28% in the placebo group. Forty-one per cent in the metformin Group had no NASH, according to the study.
Results were published in the issue April 27 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"The fatty liver disease is a potentially problem in children and adolescents." "But we do not have a drug at the present time that we can say changes the prognosis," says Dr. Benjamin Shneider, Hepatology at the Pittsburgh children's Hospital Medical Director. "Vitamin e is probably safe, but it is difficult with the data at hand to recommend." The primary end point of the study has not been met, and although they saw some fascinating changes with vitamin E, it is difficult to know if these changes lead to an improvement in the long term.
At the present time, a healthy way of life remains the best defence against fatty liver disease, said Shneider.
"There is no miracle", he added. "Lifestyle changes are treatment." The good news for children is that they have the opportunity to catch up with their obesity. If they reduce their food so that they take the weight and do more exercise, as they grow, they catch you their obesity. "It is easier when you are an adult."
Lavine agreed that lifestyle changes can help. "If children eat properly and play vigorously, the way they did a few years earlier, this problem would much less common and worrisome, he said."
More information
Learn more about the American College of Gastroenterology fatty liver disease.
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