The Effect of Microalgae Chlorella vulgaris Supplementation on Inflammatory Factors in Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): A double- blind randomized clinical trial

Background and Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the chronic liver diseases. () Microalgae – as a functional food and prebiotic agent - is supposed as a new approach in the treatment of NAFLD. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the effect of microalgae Chlorella vulgaris (C. Vulgaris) supplementation on inflammatory factors in patients with NAFLD. This double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted on 70 NAFLD patients confirmed by ultrasonograohy and liver enzymes level. The subjects were randomly allocated into two groups: (1) “Intervention” (n=35) received 400 mg/d vitamin E plus four 300 mg tablets of C.vulgaris, (2) “placebo” received 400 mg/d vitamin E and four placebo tablets per day for eight weeks. Weight, dietary data and fasting serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), hs-CRP, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) were assessed at baseline and after 8 weeks. Weight, ALT and ALP decreased significantly in both group after the intervention (p˂0.001). There were found significant reductions in AST and hs-CRP in the intervention group (p˂0.001). Intera-groups changes in TNF-α level was statistically significant (P˃0.05). C.vulgaris supplementation could improve liver function through decreasing weight, liver enzymes and hs-CRP concentrations after 8 weeks.