Montesi L, Caselli C, Centis E, Nuccitelli C, Moscatiello S, Suppini A, Marchesini G. Physical activity support or weight loss counseling for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease? World J Gastroenterol 2014; 20(29): 10128-10136 [PMID: 25110440 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i29.10128]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Giulio Marchesini, Professor, Unit of Metabolic Diseases and Clinical Dietetics, “Alma Mater Studiorum” University, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Via Massarenti, 9, I-40138 Bologna, Italy. giulio.marchesini@unibo.it
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
Luca Montesi, Chiara Caselli, Elena Centis, Chiara Nuccitelli, Simona Moscatiello, Alessandro Suppini, Giulio Marchesini, Unit of Metabolic Diseases and Clinical Dietetics, “Alma Mater Studiorum” University, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, I-40138 Bologna, Italy
Author contributions: Montesi L, Caselli C and Moscatiello S performed the research and contributed to writing the paper; Nuccitelli C and Suppini A supervised the psychological support program and contributed to study design; Centis E supervised the cognitive-behavioral part of the study; Marchesini G designed the study, performed the analysis and wrote the paper; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement, No. HEALTH-F2-2009-241762 for the project FLIP (in part); Centis E, Nuccitelli C and Moscatiello S supported by specific research contracts within the same program
Correspondence to: Giulio Marchesini, Professor, Unit of Metabolic Diseases and Clinical Dietetics, “Alma Mater Studiorum” University, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Via Massarenti, 9, I-40138 Bologna, Italy. giulio.marchesini@unibo.it
Telephone: +39-51-6364889 Fax: +39-51-6364502
Received: December 14, 2013 Revised: January 29, 2014 Accepted: April 8, 2014 Published online: August 7, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: The adherence to healthy diet is usually considered as part of effective treatment by patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), whereas motivation to habitual physical activity is more difficult to pursue. We recently developed a specific psychological support program to regular physical activity to be proposed to NAFLD patients, particularly to those who failed or refused the classical weight loss approach. In a clinical audit, we compared the preliminary results obtained by the physical activity program with the data achieved in a group treated by the standard nutritional counseling, after adjusting for propensity score. The results indicate that physical activity may be implemented in motivated patients, with good results on physical fitness, liver enzymes and liver fat.
