Olive oil lessened fatty liver severity independent of cardiometabolic correction in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A randomized clinical trial

•Consumption of 20 g/d olive oil attenuated fatty liver grade in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.•Olive oil also reduced body fat percentage in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.•Weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, and aminotransferases decreased in the olive oil and sunflower consumption groups. Olive oil has health benefits for the correction of metabolic diseases. We aimed to evaluate the effect of olive oil consumption on the severity of fatty liver and cardiometabolic markers in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This randomized, double-blind, clinical trial was conducted on 66 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Patients were divided to receive either olive or sunflower oil, each 20 g/d for 12 wk. A hypocaloric diet (−500 kcal/d) was recommended to all participants. Fatty liver grade, liver enzymes, anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, serum lipid profile, glucose, insulin, malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity, and interleukin-6 were assessed pre- and postintervention. Fatty liver grade, weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure significantly decreased in both groups. Sunflower oil significantly reduced serum aspartate and alanine aminotransferases and olive oil only decreased serum aspartate aminotransferase. Fat-free mass and skeletal muscle mass significantly reduced after the consumption of sunflower oil and serum triacylglycerols and fat mass significantly declined after the ingestion of olive oil. Among these variables, only changes in fatty liver grade (−0.29 ± 0.46 in sunflower oil versus −0.75 ± 0.45 in olive oil; P