A Randomised Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness and Adherence of Modified Alternate-day Calorie Restriction in Improving Activity of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Currently, there is no effective therapy for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), although intensive calorie restriction is typically recommended but dietary adherence is an issue. The current study aimed to determine the effectiveness and adherence of eight weeks of modified alternate-day calorie restriction (MACR) in the control of NAFLD activity. This was a randomized controlled trial with MACR as the intervention and normal habitual diet as control. The outcome measures were body mass index (BMI), blood lipids, fasting blood sugar (FBS), liver enzymes (ALT and AST), and ultrasonographic measurements of liver steatosis and shear wave elastography (SWE). Per-protocol (PP) and intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis were performed within and between-groups with P  0.22). Both liver steatosis grades and fibrosis (SWE) scores were reduced in between-group analyses of MACR vs. controls (PP and ITT, all P