Research progress on the potential of flavonoids in prevetion and improvement of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) refers to a wide spectrum of liver disease that was not from excess alcohol consumption. The prevalence of NAFLD was rising dramatically in the past 20 years. Current NAFLD therapies were limited,thus,much attention had been focused on new strategies for NAFLD treatment.Dietary natural compounds such as flavonoids could prevent and improve NAFLD through a variety of mechanisms. A number of in vitro and in vivo studies have strongly suggest that dietary intake of flavonoids could interfere with the progression of NAFLD via inhibiting hepatic oxidative stress,inflammation,and insulin resistance. Based on NAFLD pathogenesis,the recent studies about the effects of flavonoids on NAFLD were reviewed in this work.