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Published on: April 16, 2019
Associations between dairy product and egg intake and NAFLD remission: Evidence from a prospective cohort study
Dehao Zhang1, Mei Lin2, Xiaona Wang3
1School of Public Health, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China; The Key Lab of Tropical Translational Research of Ministry of Education, Haikou, China; The Key Lab of Tropical Cardiovascular Diseases Research of Hainan Province, Haikou, China; The First Clinical Medical School, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China.
Purpose:
To investigate the associations between dairy and egg intake and NAFLD remission in a non-clinical population.
Methods:
This prospective cohort study included 11,674 participants with multiple examinations between 2008 and 2023 in Beijing. The NAFLD diagnoses at baseline and remission during follow-up were confirmed by ultrasound assessments. Dairy and egg intake were assessed using a self-reported questionnaire and quantified as proportions of total energy intake. Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for sociodemographic, lifestyle, dietary, and cardiometabolic confounders, were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for NAFLD persistence in relation to dairy and egg intake.
Results:
Over 23,384 person-years of follow-up, 4532 participants experienced NAFLD remission. In multivariate-adjusted models, higher intakes of dairy and eggs were associated with a 20% (HR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.78-0.92) and a 15% (HR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.78-0.92) lower risk of NAFLD persistence, respectively, when comparing the highest to lowest quintiles (both P-trend < 0.0001). Highest intake of both dairy and eggs was associated with a 29% (HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.62-0.82) lower risk of NAFLD persistence. Physical activity modified the relationships between dairy and egg intake and risk of NAFLD persistence (P-interaction < 0.05). Replacing energy from carbohydrate-rich foods, red meats, and unhealthy foods with dairy and eggs was associated with an observed lower risk of NAFLD persistence.
Conclusions:
In this NAFLD cohort, these observational findings suggest potential benefits of higher dairy and egg intake, as part of healthy lifestyles, in relation to NAFLD remission.
