A nutritional intervention that promotes increased vegetable intake in Japanese with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a six-month trial

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a nutritional intervention motivating increased vegetable consumption would be an effective treatment and diet therapy for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. We examined 15 patients with this disease (5 men and 10 women). During the 6-month intervention period, all participants received a small amount of vegetables twice a month as a nutritional education tool aimed at increasing vegetable consumption. They also received nutritional counseling and underwent ultrasound and blood biochemical examinations at baseline and 3 and 6 months after initiation of the intervention. Moreover, they were requested to submit dietary records for any 2 days. Green, white, and total vegetable intakes were significantly higher at 3 and 6 months than at baseline in 8 patients. These patients had significantly lower alanine amino­transferase and triglyceride concentrations than those whose vegetable intake did not increase. Additionally, green vegetable intake significantly negatively correlated with weight at 3 and 6 months (r = −0.617, p = 0.032 and r = −0.848, p = 0.008, respectively). These results suggest that our nutritional approach effectively increased vegetable consumption in at least some patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, consequently improving their condition.