Background and Aim: To compare the effects of probiotics on liver stiffness and steatosis in obese and non-obese patients with nonalco-holic fatty liver disease (NAFLD),the pragmatic clinical trial included 50 obese body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2 and 50 non-obese NAFLD BMI <25 kg/m2 age and sex-matched patients.
Material and Methods: Fibroscan with controlled attenuated param-eter (CAP) was done at day 0 and at the end of 6 months. Probiotics supplementation was provided for both groups for 6 months along with lifestyle modifications.
Results: At inclusion, both groups had comparable characteristics except BMI, metabolic syndrome and waist circumference (WC). Beneficial changes occurred in BMI (p=0.024), WC (p=0.045), ALT (p=0.024), total cholesterol (p=0.016), LDL (p=0.025) and triglycer-ide (p=0.021) of obese group, systolic blood pressure (p=0.003) and LDL level (p=0.018) in non-obese group. No significant change was observed in liver enzymes and glycemic profiles. Significant improve-ment in CAP was observed in both groups. But after adjusting for changes in BMI and WC, the change in CAP among non-obese par-ticipants were significantly higher compared to obese, mean change of 19.33±48.87 and 16.02±51.58 dB/m in non-obese and obese patients, respectively; p=0.044).
Conclusion: Probiotics improve CAP/ steatosis in both obese and non-obese NAFLD patients and improvement was higher in non-obese, irre-spective of BMI change.