Efficacy of metabolic therapy in NAFLD patients with normal or elevated intestinal permeability
Finally, we explored whether intestinal permeability can predict the efficacy of metabolic therapy in patients with NAFLD. Thirty patients with NAFLD completed a one-month follow-up after metabolic therapy. The effects of metabolic therapy were assessed by determining the improvements in blood lipids as follows: Δlipid=baseline levels–levels one month after treatment.
NAFLD patients with elevated intestinal permeability had a lower ΔTG value one month after metabolic therapy, at -0.10 (-0.39–0.39) vs. 1.00 (0.90–1.30) (P=0.014) than those with normal intestinal permeability. Besides, patients with normal intestinal permeability seemed to have a better improvement of TC, HDL, and LDL after one month of metabolic therapy, although the differences were not statistically significant (Table 4 ). However, the changes in clinical characteristics (BMI); liver test parameters (ALT, AST, GGT, TBIL, DBIL, and IBIL); and liver ultrasonographic parameters (LSM and FAP) showed no significant differences between the two groups after one month of metabolic therapy.