Dietary patterns are associated with the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Korean adults.

OBJECTIVES: There is minimal research on the effect of overall dietary patterns on the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the Korean population. The present study investigated the association between dietary patterns and NAFLD. METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study was performed on participants who visited a health care center for a health checkup. A semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire was administered to the participants to assess their food intake, and factor analysis was used to identify dietary patterns. Relationships between the dietary patterns and the risk of NAFLD were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 331 of the 1190 participants (27.8%) analyzed were diagnosed with NAFLD. Three factors were generated and defined as the traditional pattern, Western and high-carbohydrate pattern, and simple meal pattern using a factor analysis procedure. The traditional pattern revealed a positive correlation with NAFLD, and the simple meal pattern exhibited an inverse correlation with NAFLD. We adjusted for confounding factors, such as age, sex, waist circumference, smoking status, total energy intake, diabetes, and hypertension, and participants in the highest quartile of the traditional dietary pattern exhibited a higher prevalence of NAFLD (P for trend = 0.0373; odds ratio, 1.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-3.08) than participants in the lowest quartile. Participants in highest quintile of the simple meal pattern exhibited a decreased risk of NAFLD compared with the lowest quintile (P for trend = 0.0233; odds ratio 0.59; 95% confidence interval 0.34-1.00). CONCLUSIONS: The traditional dietary pattern was associated with an increased risk of NAFLD, and the simple meal pattern was associated with a decreased risk of NAFLD in the Korean population. This finding supports the use of dietary patterns to predict the risk of NAFLD and potentially serve as a dietary prevention strategy in individuals who are at high risk of developing NAFLD.