Cell Metabolism
Volume 27, Issue 3, 6 March 2018, Pages 559-571.e5
Journal home page for Cell Metabolism

Clinical and Translational Report
An Integrated Understanding of the Rapid Metabolic Benefits of a Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet on Hepatic Steatosis in Humans

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2018.01.005Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • A low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) improves liver fat metabolism in NAFLD patients

  • The LCD promotes rapid shifts in the gut microbiota composition of NAFLD patients

  • The LCD-induced microbial changes are associated with increased circulating folate

  • The LCD increases folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism gene expression in liver

Summary

A carbohydrate-restricted diet is a widely recommended intervention for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but a systematic perspective on the multiple benefits of this diet is lacking. Here, we performed a short-term intervention with an isocaloric low-carbohydrate diet with increased protein content in obese subjects with NAFLD and characterized the resulting alterations in metabolism and the gut microbiota using a multi-omics approach. We observed rapid and dramatic reductions of liver fat and other cardiometabolic risk factors paralleled by (1) marked decreases in hepatic de novo lipogenesis; (2) large increases in serum β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations, reflecting increased mitochondrial β-oxidation; and (3) rapid increases in folate-producing Streptococcus and serum folate concentrations. Liver transcriptomic analysis on biopsy samples from a second cohort revealed downregulation of the fatty acid synthesis pathway and upregulation of folate-mediated one-carbon metabolism and fatty acid oxidation pathways. Our results highlight the potential of exploring diet-microbiota interactions for treating NAFLD.

Keywords

NAFLD
inflammation
carbohydrate-restricted diet
multi-omics
β-oxidation
FGF21
microbiome
Streptococcus
folate
PPAR-α

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These authors contributed equally

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