Diet and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in an Ethnically Diverse Population

Excess energy intake and the consumption of red and processed meats have been shown to lead to development of insulin resistance, a key driver of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, much of the supporting research on diet and NAFLD has been performed in ethnically nondiverse populations. Now, researchers have examined these associations in a nested case-control study within a large, prospective, multiethnic cohort study in California and Hawaii.

Nearly 3000 NAFLD cases were identified using Medicare claims data and were matched to approximately 30,000 controls without liver disease by birth year, sex, ethnicity, and length of Medicare enrollment. Diet was assessed using a validated questionnaire at baseline. Five hundred patie…