Research

Hormonal

Progression from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis (NASH) is driven by a 'second hit' involving oxidative stress, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction, often triggered by excess free fatty acids.

Preventing progression to NASH requires reducing the metabolic load on the liver. This involves minimizing factors that cause oxidative stress and inflammation, such as excessive alcohol intake (though NAFLD is non-alcoholic, alcohol adds stress) and high sugar/fructose intake which drives de novo lipogenesis.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Day et al launched the 'two-hit-theory', stating that two succeeding wallops have to be delivered to the liver to cause NASH... The surplus of FFA within the liver causes the formation of excess amounts of ROS... This will trigger the inflammatory response and apoptosis as well activation of stellate cells.
T.C.M.A. Schreuder et al. · World Journal of Gastroenterology · 2008

Why this rating

Based on the review of multiple studies supporting the two-hit theory and oxidative stress mechanisms.

Source

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: An overview of current insights in pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment

T.C.M.A. Schreuder et al. · World Journal of Gastroenterology · 2008

DOI 10.3748/wjg.14.2474

narrative_reviewCited 190×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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