Phosphatidylcholine - Monograph

Alternative Medicine Review, April, 2002

Alcoholic Hepatic Steatosis and Inflammation

Knuechel conducted a double-blind trial on 40 male subjects with hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) and inflammation linked to alcohol intake. (17) Subjects were taken off pharmaceuticals and randomized into two groups; one group received placebo, the other 1,350 mg PC per day by mouth (fortified with B vitamins). Benefits from PC were evident at two weeks, and by the eighth week a wide variety of biochemical liver function measures were significantly improved over placebo.

Three subsequent double-blind trials corroborated these findings. Schuller Perez and San Martin concluded, "It is our view that the use of highly-unsaturated phosphatidylcholine for therapy of alcohol-dependent steatoses is very productive." (18) Buchman et al administered PC double-blind to 15 subjects with fatty liver as part of a total parenteral nutrition intravenous feeding regimen, and also obtained significant benefit. (19) Other researchers report that subjects with mild to moderate hepatic inflammation benefit the most from PC supplementation. (20)

In an animal study, baboons were placed on a daily alcohol regimen for up to eight years. Following a blinded trial design, PC was added to the diet of some of the animals. After several years, baboons fed alcohol without PC had progressed to advanced fibrosis, while the PC-supplemented baboons developed fatty liver and mild fibrosis, but did not progress further. After three of the animals were taken off PC and kept on alcohol, they rapidly progressed to extensive, life-terminating liver fibrosis. (21))

Drug-Induced Liver Damage

In a double-blind trial, 101 tuberculous subjects who had suffered liver damage from rifampin and two other anti-tuberculosis pharmaceuticals received placebo or 1,350 mg of fortified PC daily. After three months, the PC group had significantly lower SGOT and SGPT enzyme levels. (22)

Hepatitis B

In a double-blind trial on 30 subjects with progressing liver damage from chronic hepatitis B virus infection (negative for HBsAg), standard immunosuppressive therapy was retained and subjects received either PC (2,300 mg per day) or placebo. At one year, the PC group had clinically stabilized, with significant improvement of liver structure, whereas the placebo group had worsened. (23)

Sixty subjects positive for hepatitis B (HBsAg-positive) were placed in a fortified PC group (1,350 mg per day) or a placebo group for 60 days. From 30 days onward the PC group was clinically improved over placebo, with 50 percent becoming HbsAg-negative, compared to 25 percent of the placebo group. (24)

In a double-blind trial of 50 subjects, all HBsAg-positive and manifesting extremely severe liver damage verified by biopsy and immunologic testing, the PC group (1,350 mg fortified PC per day) benefited considerably more (p<0.001) than placebo. In the PC group, 80 percent (20 of 25) were judged greatly improved, while 24 percent (6 of 25) moderately improved in the placebo group. Cell-structure, biochemical, immunologic, and hematologic parameters were significantly improved over placebo. Clinical improvement continued well past the end of the one-year trial. (25)