• Helda Tutunchi, Maryam Saghafi-Asl, Mohammad Asghari-Jafarabadi, and Alireza Ostadrahimi.
• Student Research Committee, Nutrition Research Center, Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutrition & Food Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
• Arch Iran Med. 2021 Jan 1; 24 (1): 35-42.

BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate the association between dietary patterns and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among Iranian adults.MethodsThis case-control study was conducted on 210 subjects. NAFLD diagnosis was made by ultrasound examination. Anthropometric measures, physical activity, fasting serum levels of glucose, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase, and lipid profile were assessed. A three-day food diary was used to assess dietary intakes of the subjects. Dietary patterns were determined using factor analysis. To determine the relationship between dietary patterns and NAFLD, multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR) obtained from the logistic regression analysis was used.ResultsTwo dietary patterns were extracted as follows: vegetables, legumes, fruits, and low-fat dairy products (VLFD) ; and sweet, hydrogenated fat, red and processed meat, and soft drink (SHMS) dietary patterns. By taking all possible confounders into account, the VLFD dietary pattern was found to be significantly related to lower odds of NAFLD, while the SHMS dietary pattern was independently related to higher odds of NAFLD (P < 0.05). Among major food groups, high consumption of processed meat, hydrogenated fats, sweets and desserts, and soft drinks was positively related to NAFLD (P < 0.05), whereas vegetable consumption exhibited a protective role against NAFLD (P = 0.01).ConclusionThe VLFD dietary pattern was associated with reduced likelihood of having NAFLD, while the SHMS dietary pattern was associated with higher likelihood. Therefore, the VLFD dietary pattern might be useful in the nutritional strategies for NAFLD patients. Further studies with larger sample sizes and prospective design are warranted.© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

15 keywords...

hide…