Research

Energy balance

Intensive diet-induced weight loss (approx. 13.4% body weight over 12 weeks) leads to rapid and complete resolution of hepatic steatosis in NAFLD patients, with 90% achieving complete resolution as measured by MRI.

For NAFLD patients, a 12-week intensive meal replacement program (approx. 1100 kcal/day) can completely resolve liver fat in 90% of cases. This rapid resolution is achievable even with Class II obesity, suggesting that short-term intensive intervention is a viable and effective primary treatment strategy.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
At Week 12, mean (95% confidence interval) weight loss was -13.4 (-15.2, -11.5)%... MRI-determined hepatic fat fraction decreased by -74.1% (p < 0.001)... with complete steatosis resolution in 90% patients.
Jaideep Behari et al. · Obesity Science & Practice · 2020

Why this rating

Small sample size (n=14), proof-of-concept study, but uses gold-standard MRI for fat quantification.

Source

Dynamics of hepatic steatosis resolution and changes in gut microbiome with weight loss in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Jaideep Behari et al. · Obesity Science & Practice · 2020

DOI 10.1002/osp4.476

cohort · n=14Cited 12×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →