Is there any progress in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease?

Despite the fact that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its severe clinical form, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, are becoming increasingly prevalent in the industrialised countries, there are no licensed pharmacological treatments for them. Weight loss and life modifications, antioxidant therapies and insulin-sensitising agents are the current treatment strategies and have all been tested with inconclusive results. Low sample numbers, inadequate treatment duration and invalid surrogate markers for treatment response might all account for these results. As NAFLD is a systemic rather than a liver disease, future trials should address the patient as a whole and also address cardiovascular risk factors.