Research

Energy balance

Orlistat (120 mg TID) combined with caloric restriction does not provide superior weight loss or histological improvement in NASH patients compared to caloric restriction and vitamin E alone.

If you have NASH, taking orlistat along with a strict low-calorie diet and vitamin E will not improve your liver health or help you lose more weight than just following the diet and taking vitamin E alone. The key to improving your liver is achieving significant weight loss (at least 9%), regardless of whether you use the medication.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Orlistat did not enhance weight loss or improve liver enzymes, measures of insulin resistance, and histopathology.
Stephen A. Harrison et al. · Hepatology · 2008

Why this rating

Randomized, prospective trial with biopsy endpoints, though limited by open-label design and small sample size (n=41 completed).

Source

Orlistat for overweight subjects with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Stephen A. Harrison et al. · Hepatology · 2008

DOI 10.1002/hep.22575

rct · n=50Cited 468×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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