**7. Conclusion and future prospects**

Even though there is no FDA approved anti-NAFLD compound, industrial and academic researchers are still investigating for naturally occurring bioactive(s) for potential and safe anti-NAFLD compounds. Prior consideration is necessary for designing anti-NAFLD functional foods, especially for complex diseases such as insulin resistance, chronic liver diseases, etc. Food bioactive such as curcumin, proanthocyanidins that have shown hepatoprotective and anti-NAFLD properties, are the right candidates for incorporating into functional foods. Also, research support is highly essential for accessing the anti-NAFLD properties of other food components. Anti-NAFLD functional foods could be a low-cost strategy to prevent obesity-related complications. NAFLD inhibitors are recognized as one of the targets for obesity therapy [121]. The development of post-genomic functional foods may need to focus on molecular targets such as NAFLD factors that drive the early stages of chronic disease onset/progression. A comprehensive and successful work in functional foods will involve knowledge of ethnobotany, chemotaxonomy, transgenic plants or animal animals (as bioactive compound factories) and interdisciplinary approaches involving foods, nutrition scientists, and biomedical scientists for design. In this context, researchers must have in-depth knowledge in the field of ethnobotany and chemotaxonomy. To determine the efficacy of functional food, the post-genomic wave of functional foods would need to span the entire spectrum, from primary to clinical trials.
