Probiotics Help Diminish Fatty Liver Deposits

The researchers administered three strains from the Collection Nationale de Cultures de Microorganismes (CNCM) of The Pasteur Institute (Paris, France); Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036.

The strains were administered for thirty days to Zucker rats, who develop obesity due to a mutation in the gene that codifies the receptor of leptin, a hormone that transmits a sensation of satiety to the organism. The results showed that the administration of probiotics led to an accumulation of triacylglycerides in the liver which was significantly lower than that occurring in rats fed with a placebo. The rats fed with probiotics also had lower serum values of proinflamatory molecules such as tumor-a necrosis factor, interleukin 6, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The study was published on May 22, 2014, in PLOS ONE.

“The probiotic strains reduced hepatic steatosis in part by lowering serum LPS, and had an anti-inflammatory effect in obese Zucker rats. This is a step forward on the fight against non-alcolohic fatty liver disease,” concluded lead author Julio Plaza-Diaz, MSc, and colleagues of the UGR José Mataix Institute for Nutrition and Food Technology. “Liver disease will not be cured with probiotics, but these microorganisms can certainly be used as support therapy in joint use with other treatments.”

Non-alcolohic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is related to insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome and may respond to treatments originally developed for other insulin-resistant states (e.g., diabetes mellitus type 2) such as weight loss, metformin, and thiazolidinediones. For most people, it causes no signs, symptoms, or complications, but in some cases accumulated fat can cause inflammation and scarring in the liver, called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a major cause of cirrhosis of the liver of unknown cause.

Probiotics are microorganisms that provide health benefits; they are commonly consumed live as part of fermented foods such as in yogurt, or in dietary supplements. The introduction of the concept is generally attributed to Nobel Prize recipient Eli Metchnikoff, who in 1907 suggested that "the dependence of the intestinal microbes on the food makes it possible to adopt measures to modify the flora in our bodies and to replace the harmful microbes by useful microbes.”

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