Effects of gluten-free diet on metabolic syndrome components and anthropometric indices in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: An open-label randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Background and study aims

There is no approved medication to rescue fat build-up in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Some medications have been used to reduce the symptoms of these patients. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effects of a gluten-free diet (GFD) on hepatic steatosis (HS), the lipid profile, blood pressure (BP), fasting blood sugar (FBS) and anthropometric indices in patients with NAFLD within 3 months of intervention.

Patients and Methods

This study is an open-label, randomized clinical trial of 60 patients with NAFLD who were referred to the gastrointestinal (GI) clinic of Imam Khomeini Hospital, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran. Patients were randomly divided into two groups and classified into two groups: group I or the control group (follows lifestyle change training) and group II (follows both lifestyle change training and the GFD. The parameter variations, including body mass index (BMI), FBS, lipid profile, liver function test (LFT), waist circumference (WC), BP and grade of HS, were recorded and compared between the start of the study and 3 months after the intervention. SPSS statistics 25 software was used for data analysis, and the significance level was considered at the level of P < 0.05.

Results

After the 3-month intervention, both groups showed significant within-group improvements in most anthropometric and metabolic measures, likely reflecting the impact of lifestyle modification. However, when comparing outcomes between groups, only the FBS and triglyceride (TG) levels were significantly lower in the GFD group than in the control group, whereas the changes in all other parameters were not significantly different between the two groups.

Conclusion

In this trial, incorporating a GFD alongside lifestyle change training led to significant improvements in FBS and TG levels, whereas other parameters improved similarly in both groups.