title: [Efficacy of antioxidants in treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver: a systematic review].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy of antioxidants in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE or PUBMED (1978-2011), EMBASE (1978-2011), ISI, OVID Database (1978-2011), CNKI Net and WANFANG database (1978-2011) were searched for relevant randomized controlled trials, with also manual search of the bibliographies of the retrieved articles. The data were synthesized to assess the histological response of the patients (hepatic steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis) and hepatic biochemical changes after the treatments (alanine aminotransferase responses).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen trials involving 1284 patients were included in the Meta-analysis. The quality of the trials was inconsistent. The data were extracted for meta-analysis or descriptive analysis, which did not yield sufficient evidence that antioxidants could improve hepatic steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis or alanine aminotransferase responses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current data do not support a positive therapeutic effect of antioxidants on nonalcoholic fatty liver, and antioxidants are therefore not recommended in the clinical treatment of the condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. Zmj0628@163.com
authors.forename: Mingxi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants