Abstract

Obesity is a global health issue characterized by the excessive fat accumulation, leading to an increased risk of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), which can progress from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, there are no approved pharmacological protocols for prevention/treatment of MAFLD, and due the complexity lying beneath these mechanisms, monotherapies are unlikely to be efficacious. This review article analyzes the possibility that NCDs can be prevented or attenuated by the combination of bioactive substances, as they could promote higher response rates, maximum reaction results, additive or synergistic effects due to compounds having similar or different mechanisms of action and/or refraining possible side effects, related to the use of lower doses and exposures times than monotherapies. Accordingly, prevention of mouse MAFLD is observed with the combination of the omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid with the antioxidant hydroxytyrosol, whereas attenuation of mild cognitive impairment is attained by folic acid plus cobalamin in elderly patients. The existence of several drawbacks underlying published monotherapies or combined trials, opens space for adequate and stricter experimental and clinical tryouts to achieve meaningful outcomes with human applicability.