Whole Grain Consumption and Its Effects on Hepatic Steatosis and Liver Enzymes in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a considerable challenge to public health across the
globe. Whole grain is highly recommended as an inseparable part of a healthy diet and has been
proposed as an effective way to manage NAFLD. The objective in this study was to evaluate the
effects of whole grain consumption on hepatic steatosis and liver enzymes as primary outcomes
in patients with NAFLD. Over the 12 weeks of this open-label, randomized controlled clinical
trial, 112 patients [mean age: 43± 8.7 y; body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2): 32.2 ± 4.3] were
randomly assigned to two groups to receive dietary advice; either to obtain at least half of their
cereal servings each day from whole-grain foods or from usual cereals. By the end of the study,
the grades of NAFLD showed a significant decrease in the intervention group (P < 0.001). In
addition, a significant reduction in serum concentration of alanine aminotransferase (P < 0.001),
aspartate aminotransferase (P < 0.001), γ-glutamyltransferase (P = 0.009), systolic blood
pressure (P = 0.004) and diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.008) were observed in the intervention
group compared to the control group. After adjusting, however, no significant differences were
found between the two groups in terms of lipid profile, glycemic status, and anthropometric
measurements. Overall, our study demonstrated that consumption of whole grains for 12 weeks
had beneficial effects on hepatic steatosis and liver enzymes concentrations in patients with NAFLD.