The Effect of Zinc Supplementation on Steatosis Severity and Liver Function Enzymes in Overweight/Obese Patients with Mild to Moderate Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Following Calorie-Restricted Diet: a Double-Blind, Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in the context of fatty liver & elevated liver enzymes, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Recently, in vivo and in vitro studies revealed roles of zinc on lipophagy and suppressing hepatic lipid deposition.

The present study is the first double-blind randomized clinical trial that investigated the effect of zinc supplement on clinical manifestations and anthropometric parameters of overweight/obese non-alcoholic fatty liver patients following calorie-restricted diet.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group a baseline to be compared against.

Serum liver enzymes and liver steatosis were measured at the baseline and 12 weeks post-intervention.

What Was Measured

Anthropometric measurements and food recalls were collected at the beginning, weeks 6 and 12.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Diet, Dietary Supplements, Liver, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Obesity, Overweight and Zinc.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Anthropometric, Dietary weight loss, Liver enzymes, Steatosis and Zinc supplement.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in people with fatty liver & elevated liver enzymes.

The publication is from 2020 (Biological trace element research), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, Fatty liver & elevated liver enzymes research.