Abstract
This mini-review focuses on the physiological function of choline in the liver and the possibility of fatty liver treatment with choline and its related compounds. Fat accumulation in the liver is the first factor in diseases that progress to fatty liver, hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver failure, and even liver cancer. Controlled clinical nutritional studies have demonstrated that choline is an essential nutrient. In those studies, the effect of insufficient dietary intake was also examined in healthy individuals. The formation of fatty liver due to choline deficiency is significantly suppressed by administration of not only choline, but also glycerophosphocholine (GPC), which is a hydrolyzed product of phosphatidylcholine (PC). Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) includes nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which causes liver fibrosis due to infiltration of inflammatory cells into the liver, in addition to fatty liver from nonalcoholic fatty liver. In animal studies, liver triglyceride content was decreased 3 weeks after ingestion of S -adenosylmethionine (SAM) and dilinoleoyl PC, resulting in a clear decrease in liver fat accumulation. Fatty liver is expected to be treated with choline-related compounds.
