Effect of nutritional counselling on hepatic, muscle and adipose tissue fat content and distribution in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Table 1 Anthropometry results before and after dietary intervention mean ± SD

	Pre-diet (n = 10)	Post-diet (n = 10)	P
Weight (kg)	96.3 (87.9-105.6)	93.0 (83.9-103.0)	0.006
BMI (kg/m2)	31.3 (28.3-34.9)	30.2 (27.2-33.9)	0.006
Waist circumference (cm)	114.6 (107.8-121.4)	107.9 (101.6-114.3)	0.001
Systolic BP (mmHg)	133.4 (117.0-149.8)	129.8 (121.3-138.2)	0.62
Diastolic BP (mmHg)	79.4 (76.5-82.3)	77.6 (71.9-83.8)	0.50
Pulse (bpm)	67.3 (60.6-75.2)	66.3 (55.3-79.9)	0.60

Significance taken as P < 0.05. BMI: Body mass index; BP: Blood pressure; bpm: Beats per minute.

Table 2 Whole body MRI before and after dietary manipulation (n = 10, geometric mean)

Adipose tissue (L)	Pre-diet	Post-diet	Change (%)	P (t-test)
Total	38.8 (32.1 to 46.9)	35.1 (28.5 to 43.4)	-9.5 (-14.4 to -4.4)	0.003
Subcutaneous	25.3 (20.8 to 30.8)	22.8 (18.1 to 28.7)	-9.9 (-15.5 to -3.9)	0.006
Internal	13.3 (10.6 to 16.7)	12.1 (9.6 to 15.2)	-9.3 (-14.1 to -4.2)	0.003
Sc abdominal	7.6 (5.8 to 10.1)	6.9 (5.1 to 9.3)	-10.2 (-18.6 to -0.9)	0.04
Sc peripheral	17.6 (14.9 to 20.8)	15.9 (12.9 to 19.5)	-9.7 (-14.9 to -4.3)	0.003
Intra-abdominal	7.6 (5.7 to 10.0)	6.7 (5.1 to 8.7)	-11.4 (-16.5 to -6.0)	0.001
Non-abdominal internal	5.7 (4.7 to 6.9)	5.4 (4.4 to 6.6)	-5.4 (-14.4 to 4.5)	0.24

t-tests were performed on log-transformed data, significance taken as P < 0.05. AT = adipose tissue; Sc = subcutaneous.

Table 3 Serum biochemistry results before and after dietary manipulation (n = 10)

Biochemistry	Pre-diet	Post-diet	P
Glucose (mmol/L)	5.7 (5.2-6.2)	5.5 (4.8-6.1)	0.55
Insulin (mIU/L)	13.4 (8.4-18.4)	13.9 (8.2-19.5)	0.82
HOMA %S	424.04 (225.2-737.5)	540.1 (38.0-1400.8)	0.33
HOMA %B	28.5 (17.5-43.4)	25.2 (16.2-37.3)	0.50
HbA1c	6.0 (5.7-6.3)	5.6 (5.2-6.1)	0.03
Cholesterol (mmol/L)	5.3 (4.6-6.1)	5.0 (4.6-5.5)	0.24
Total Chol:HDLc	4.4 (3.7-5.4)	4.0 (3.5-4.7)	0.22
TG (mmol/L)	1.9 (1.3-2.6)	1.9 (1.4-2.4)	0.88
AST (U/L)	32.2 (26.5-37.9)	28.4 (24.0-32.8)	0.02
ALT (U/L)	42.4 (29.1-55.7)	36.6 (22.5-50.7)	0.08
γGT (U/L)	39.0 (18.0-60.0)	40.2 (21.6-58.8)	0.34

HOMA: Homeostatic model assessment, %S estimates insulin sensitivity; %B estimates β-cell function; Chol: Cholesterol; HDL: High density lipoprotein; TG: Triglyceride; AST: Serum aspartate aminotransferase; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; γGT: Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase.

Table 4 Hepatic and Muscle fat before and after dietary modification (n = 10, geometric mean, t-test)

	Pre-diet	Post-diet	Change (%)	P
1IHCL	13.3 (5.8-30.9)	8.0 (2.4-26.4)	-39.9 (-69.5-18.4)	0.12
1IMCL soleus	19.6 (10.3-37.2)	17.2 (10.8-27.3)	-12.2 (-53.0-64.2)	0.65
1IMCL tibialis	11.6 ( 7.6-17.7)	8.3 (5.4-12.8)	-28.2 (-48.5-0.03)	0.05

¹Measured in arbitrary units. IHCL: Intrahepatocellular lipid content; IMCL: Intramyocellular lipid content.

Table 5 Relationship between changes in liver biochemistry and adiposity

Change	Hepatic fat		AST		ALT
	r	P	r	P	r	P
Body weight	0.74	0.01	0.16	0.7	0.32	0.4
Total AT	0.70	0.02	0.42	0.22	0.49	0.15
Abdominal sc AT	0.76	0.01	0.57	0.09	0.54	0.11
Peripheral sc AT	0.45	0.2	0.15	0.7	0.17	0.6
Intra-abdominal AT	0.83	0.003	0.71	0.02	0.83	0.003
Non-abdominal internal AT	0.28	0.4	0.23	0.5	0.35	0.3
hepatic fat	-	-	0.51	0.13	0.62	0.05
Soleus IMCL	0.50	0.14	0.27	0.4	0.21	0.6
Tibialis IMCL	0.53	0.12	0.42	0.22	0.56	0.09

Pearson product movement correlation coefficients (r) for the relationship between AST, ALT and hepatic fat and measures of total and regional adiposity and IMCL, performed using log transformed data. AT: Adipose tissue; IMCL: intramyocellular lipid content; Sc: Subcutaneous.