Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2016; 22(27): 6318-6327
Published online Jul 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i27.6318
Effectiveness of exercise in hepatic fat mobilization in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Systematic review
Pegah Golabi, Cameron T Locklear, Patrick Austin, Sophie Afdhal, Melinda Byrns, Lynn Gerber, Zobair M Younossi
Pegah Golabi, Patrick Austin, Sophie Afdhal, Lynn Gerber, Zobair M Younossi, Betty and Guy Beatty Center for Integrated Research, Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA 22042, United States
Cameron T Locklear, Lynn Gerber, Zobair M Younossi, Department of Medicine, Center for Liver Disease, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA 22042, United States
Melinda Byrns, Health Sciences Library, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA 22042, United States
Author contributions: Golabi P and Gerber L participated in the study design, helped the interpretation of the data and to draft the manuscript; Golabi P and Byrns M participated in the literature search; Golabi P, Locklear CT, Austin P and Afdhal S helped the interpretation of the data and manuscript formation; Golabi P, Gerber L and Younossi ZM conceived of the study, participated substantially in its design and coordination, and helped to draft the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Zobair M Younossi, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Chairman, Department of Medicine, Center for Liver Disease, Inova Fairfax Hospital, 3300 Gallows Road, Falls Church, VA 22042, United States. zobair.younossi@inova.org
Telephone: +1-703-7762540 Fax: +1-703-776438
Received: April 16, 2016
Peer-review started: April 18, 2016
First decision: May 12, 2016
Revised: May 25, 2016
Accepted: June 15, 2016
Article in press: June 15, 2016
Published online: July 21, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is among the leading causes of chronic liver disease with an increasing prevalence worldwide. Diet and exercise are the mainstay of therapy for patients with NAFLD. This systematic review revealed that both aerobic and resistance exercise, independent of any other intervention, are successful in increasing hepatic fat mobilization. This effect is augmented by combining exercise with dietary interventions. The findings of this systematic review support that exercise interventions are effective in reducing intrahepatic triglyceride in patients with NAFLD independent of weight loss or dietary manipulation.