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Vitamin E beats drug treatment for NASH

In a presentation at the 60th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases held October 30 to November 3, 2009 in Boston, Arun Sanyal, MD of the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Internal Medicine reported the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial which found that vitamin E was more successful than the antidiabetic drug pioglitazone at treating nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is a progressive liver disease associated with fatty liver, insulin resistance and obesity. An estimated 3 to 4 percent of Americans have NASH, which progresses to cirrhosis in 15 to 20 percent of the cases, due to inflammation. The disease currently has no established treatment.



The study included 247 nondiabetic patients whose liver biopsies had confirmed NASH within six months of the trial. Participants were randomized to receive 30 milligrams per day of the insulin-sensitizing drug pioglitazone, 800 international units per day vitamin E, or a placebo for 96 weeks. Continue Reading http://www.lef.org/newsletter/2009/1106_Vitamin-E-Beats-Drug-Treatment-for-NASH.htm?source=eNewsLetter2009Wk45-2&key=Article&l=0#article