The following is a summary of “Updates in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD) in Children,” published in the November 2023 issue of Pediatrics by Rupasinghe, et al.
The growing number of obese people is one of the biggest health problems of their time. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is linked to being overweight or obese. NAFLD is now the most common cause of long-term liver disease in both kids and adults around the world. MAFLD, which stands for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease, is now more commonly used to refer to NAFLD in children. In children, it is also called pediatric fatty liver disease (PeFLD) type 2.
Multiple factors, including hormonal, food, genetic, and environmental, play a role in the development of MAFLD. Because exact diagnostic biomarkers are hard to come by right now, it is a diagnosis of exclusion, and it is important to rule out other or concurrent causes of PeFLD.
Making changes to a child’s lifestyle is still the main way to treat MAFLD in children. People with MAFLD are said to get better after losing 7–10% of their body weight. There was also hope that the Mediterranean diet could help reverse MAFLD. Some people think that drugs shouldn’t be used on kids, and while tests on kids haven’t shown any promise, tests on other drugs on adults have. The study discussed the newest research on pediatric MAFLD and how to treat it.
Source: journals.lww.com/jpgn/abstract/2023/11000/updates_in_metabolic_dysfunction_associated_fatty.5.aspx