Therapeutic strategies for pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a challenge for health care providers

Abstract

Non-alcoholic steato-hepatitis (NASH) is related to insulin resistance and, thus, frequently occurs as part of the metabolic changes that accompany obesity, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. In childhood, the overwhelming boost of obesity and its co-morbidities have lead to the extraordinarily increased prevalence of NASH. Establishing effective therapeutic strategies to treat the disease represents the challenge for hepatologists and gastroenterologists in the next decade. Therapeutic approaches have aimed at treating associated conditions (obesity, insulin resistance, hyperlipemia, etc) or reducing liver oxidative damage (vitamin E).