Dietary patterns are associated with prevalence of fatty liver disease in adults

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 69; no. 8; pp. 914 - 921
• Main Authors: Jia, Q, Xia, Y, Zhang, Q, Wu, H, Du, H, Liu, L, Wang, C, Shi, H, Guo, X, Liu, X, Li, C, Sun, S, Wang, X, Zhao, H, Song, K, Huang, G, Wu, Y, Cui, N, Niu, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.08.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/699/1503/1607/2750; Adult; Adults; Carbohydrates; China - epidemiology; Cholesterol; Clinical Nutrition; Complications and side effects; Confidence intervals; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet; Diet - adverse effects; Diet Surveys - methods; Diet Surveys - statistics & numerical data; Dietary Carbohydrates - administration & dosage; Dietary Carbohydrates - adverse effects; Dietary Carbohydrates - analysis; Dietary Proteins - administration & dosage; Dietary Proteins - adverse effects; Dietary Proteins - analysis; Discriminant analysis; Eating; Epidemiology; Factor analysis; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Fatty liver; Fatty Liver - epidemiology; Fatty Liver - etiology; Female; Food; Food consumption; Food intake; Health aspects; Health behavior; Humans; Internal Medicine; Liver; Liver diseases; Male; Males; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; Odds Ratio; original-article; Prevalence; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); Prospective Studies; Proteins; Public Health; Regression analysis; Risk factors; Sex Factors; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Ultrasound; China
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2014.297

Background/objectives: Previous studies have indicated that higher levels of food consumption are associated with fatty liver disease (FLD), but few studies have investigated the relationship between this disease and different dietary patterns. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the association between dietary patterns and FLD in adults. Subjects/methods: Dietary intakes of participants in the Tianjin were assessed via questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns, and FLD was defined as having a FLD diagnosis using liver ultrasonography. Relationships between dietary patterns and FLD were assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: Female participants in the highest quartile of high-carbohydrate/sweet pattern scores had a 2.19-fold greater risk (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.40–3.46) of developing non-alcoholic FLD (NAFLD) than those in the lowest quartile after adjusting for confounding factors. No significant differences were found between any dietary pattern and NAFLD in males. In males, a significantly increasing trend of alcoholic FLD (AFLD) prevalence was associated with increasing high-protein/cholesterol pattern scores ( P for trend=0.03; odds ratio (OR), 2.08; 95% CI, 1.15–3.81) while an increased high-carbohydrate/sweet pattern score appeared protective against AFLD ( P for trend=0.02; OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.29–1.00). Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that high-protein/cholesterol pattern scores are associated with higher prevalence of AFLD in males. We also show high-carbohydrate/sweet pattern scores are associated with higher prevalence of NAFLD in females; but, interestingly, this pattern shows a favorable effect on AFLD in males.