Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 21, 2017; 23(47): 8437-8438
Published online Dec 21, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i47.8437
Silymarin: An option to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Carmela Colica, Luigi Boccuto, Ludovico Abenavoli
Carmela Colica, CNR, IBFM UOS of Germaneto, University “Magna Graecia”, Catanzaro 88100, Italy
Luigi Boccuto, Research Department, Greenwood Genetic Center, School of Health Research, Clemson University, Greenwood 29646, United States
Ludovico Abenavoli, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Græcia, Campus Germaneto, Viale Europa, Catanzaro 88100, Italy
Author contributions: Colica C and Abenavoli L performed research of literature data and wrote the paper; Boccuto L revised the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declares no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ludovico Abenavoli MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Health Sciences, University Magna Græcia, Campus Germaneto, Viale Europa - Germaneto, Catanzaro 88100, Italy. l.abenavoli@unicz.it
Telephone: +39-961-3697113 Fax: +39-961-754220
Received: November 8, 2017
Peer-review started: November 9, 2017
First decision: November 21, 2017
Revised: November 27, 2017
Accepted: December 4, 2017
Article in press: December 4, 2017
Published online: December 21, 2017
Processing time: 41 Days and 17.7 Hours
Abstract

We have read with a great interest the review published by Singh et al, on the treatment options in alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, including various new targeted therapies that are currently under investigation. Recently, we described the health effects of the Mediterranean diet associated to an antioxidant complex rich in silymarin, to improve in overweight patients anthropometric parameters, glucose and lipid metabolism and intra-hepatic fat accumulation.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; Antioxidant; Silymarin; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Core tip: Supplementation of silymarin in association with an hypocaloric diet and physical activity, can be a correct approach to treat patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in clinical practice.