Improved Diet Quality Associates With Reduction in Liver Fat, Particularly in Individuals With High Genetic Risk Scores for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Abstract

In an analysis of participants in the Framingham Heart Study, increasing diet quality, determined based on MDS and AHEI scores, is associated with less liver fat accumulation and reduced risk for new-onset fatty liver. An improved diet is particularly important for individuals with a high genetic risk for NAFLD.

Increased Diet Quality is Associated with Long‐Term Reduction of Abdominal and Pericardial Fat

“…For example, one large cohort study showed that adopting a high‐quality diet, assessed using multiple diet scores, was associated with less weight gain over 4‐year increments . The present study is an extension of our prior work, which demonstrated that increased diet quality was associated with less fat accumulation in the liver over time . Thus, the present study enhances the literature by showing that improving overall diet quality may be associated with favorable adiposity changes in the abdomen and pericardial sac in free‐living adults.…”

Diet Associations With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in an Ethnically Diverse Population: The Multiethnic Cohort

“…Two recent studies showed that high consumption of red and/or processed meat was associated with a greater risk for NAFLD and insulin resistance in a cross‐sectional study of population attending a gastroenterology department for screening and that high animal protein intake, pointing at meat, was a risk factor for NAFLD in an aging white population . Other studies including ours have shown that diet quality and specific foods or nutrients, such as coffee, sugar‐sweetened beverages, and saturated fat, are associated with NAFLD. However, large population‐based studies of diet and NAFLD associations, particularly in diverse ethnic groups and high‐risk minority populations, are lacking.…”

“…Indeed, the Mediterranean diet, which is low in red meat and processed red meat, was found to be beneficial in NAFLD, leading to decreased steatosis and improved insulin resistance . In a recent prospective study of diet quality and NAFLD by genetic risk score, red meat was implicated as one of the driving components for the association between diet quality and changes in liver fat …”

Higher phenolic acid intake independently associates with lower prevalence of insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

“…45,46 Among dietary patterns with a high content of phenolic compounds, the Mediterranean diet has a well-established protective role against non-communicable diseases and large prospective observational studies also support its inverse association with NAFLD. 47 For this reason, the Mediterranean diet has been recommended for the treatment of NAFLD by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL)/ Diabetes (EASD)/ Obesity (EASO) Clinical Practice Guidelines 27 and recently by the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) guidelines. 48 However, we have demonstrated an independent protective association with phenolic acid intake, after adjusting for other nutritional and lifestyle factors.…”