Editorial

More evidence that probiotics may have a role in treating fatty liver disease1,2 Haripriya Maddur and Brent A Neuschwander-Tetri Data continue to emerge linking the gut-liver axis and nonal-coholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).More than 500 bacterial spe-cies exist within the alimentary tract, the composition of which has been implicated in obesity and its downstream complications. Early animal studies showed that transplantation of gut microbial species from conventionally raised mice into germ-free mice led to increased fat storage and insulin resistance (1). In nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and increased TNF-a production have also been observed. Elevated cytokine concentrations are thought to increase intestinal permeability via disruption of intracellular tight junctions, resulting in pro-gressive inflammation and fibrosis within the liver (2, 3). In