Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Sep 28, 2016; 8(27): 1137-1148
Published online Sep 28, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i27.1137
Independent effects of diet and exercise training on fat oxidation in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Ilaria Croci, Nuala M Byrne, Veronique S Chachay, Andrew P Hills, Andrew D Clouston, Trisha M O’Moore-Sullivan, Johannes B Prins, Graeme A Macdonald, Ingrid J Hickman
Ilaria Croci, Veronique S Chachay, School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia 4072, Australia
Ilaria Croci, Veronique S Chachay, Ingrid J Hickman, Translational Research Institute, the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Woolloongabba 4102, Australia
Nuala M Byrne, Bond Institute of Health and Sport, Bond University, Robina 4229, Australia
Nuala M Byrne, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove 4059, Australia
Andrew P Hills, School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston 7250, Australia
Andrew P Hills, Trisha M O’Moore-Sullivan, Johannes B Prins, Ingrid J Hickman, Mater Research Institute University of Queensland, Brisbane 4101, Australia
Andrew D Clouston, Graeme A Macdonald, School of Medicine, the University of Queensland, Brisbane 4102, Australia
Graeme A Macdonald, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba 4102, Australia
Graeme A Macdonald, Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba 4102, Australia
Ingrid J Hickman, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba 4102, Australia
Author contributions: Croci I wrote the paper; Croci I, Byrne NM, Chachay VS, Hills AP, Clouston AD, O’Moore-Sullivan TM, Prins JB, Macdonald GA and Hickman IJ designed the research; Croci I, Chachay VS, O’Moore-Sullivan TM, Macdonald GA and Hickman IJ collected data; Croci I, Hickman IJ and Clouston AD analyzed the data; Hickman IJ obtained funding; all authors approved the manuscript.
Supported by The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia; and the Lions Medical Research Foundation.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committees of the Princess Alexandra Hospital and the University of Queensland.
Clinical trial registration statement: This registration policy applies to prospective, randomized, controlled trials only.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: 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/
Correspondence to: Ilaria Croci, PhD, School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland, Blair Drive, St. Lucia 4072, Australia. ilaria.croci@uqconnect.edu.au
Telephone: +61-7-33656851 Fax: +61-7-33656877
Received: April 30, 2016
Peer-review started: May 3, 2016
First decision: June 17, 2016
Revised: July 21, 2016
Accepted: August 17, 2016
Article in press: August 18, 2016
Published online: September 28, 2016
Processing time: 144 Days and 13.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: We investigated hepatic fat oxidation and whole-body substrate oxidation under basal, insulin-stimulated and exercise conditions before and after 6 mo of circuit exercise training (EX) or dietary energy restriction (ER) in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. ER increased β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations (a marker of hepatic fat oxidation) and reduced severity of steatosis, but did not change substrate oxidation rates during acute exercise. EX improved substrate oxidation under basal, insulin-stimulated and exercise conditions, but not β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations and severity of disease. Increase in β-hydroxybutyrate was associated with decrease in hepatic steatosis and this could be one mechanism through which the ER group achieved reduction in steatosis.