TY - JOUR
T1 - Consumption of Alcoholic and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages is Associated with Increased Liver Fat Content in Middle-Aged Men and Women
AU - van Eekelen, Esther
AU - Beulens, Joline W. J.
AU - Geelen, Anouk
AU - Schrauwen-Hinderling, Vera B.
AU - Lamb, Hildo
AU - de Roos, Albert
AU - Rosendaal, Frits
AU - de Mutsert, Renee
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by the Netherlands Cardiovascular Research Initiative—an initiative with the support of the Dutch Heart Foundation (CVON2014-02 ENERGISE)— and by the Nutricia Research Foundation. The Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study is supported by the participating Departments, the Division, and the Board of Directors of the Leiden University Medical Center, and by the Leiden University Research Profile Area “Vascular and Regenerative Medicine.” This research was conducted within the Health-Holland framework and financially supported by Unilever Research and Development Vlaardingen and Health-Holland. Author disclosures: EvE, JWJB, AG, VBS-H, HL, AdR, FR, and RdM, no conflicts of interest. Supplemental Tables 1 and 2 and Supplemental Figure 1 are available from the “Supplementary data” link in the online posting of the article and from the same link in the online table of contents at https://academic.oup.com/jn/. Address correspondence to EvE (e-mail: e.van_eekelen@lumc.nl). Abbreviations used: En%, percent(age) of total energy intake; 1H-MRS, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy; HTGC, hepatic TG content; NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; NEO, Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study; PNPLA3, patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3; SSB, sugar-sweetened beverage.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Society for Nutrition. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - Background: Fatty liver is the leading cause of chronic liver diseases and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Besides alcohol consumption, energy-containing nonalcoholic beverages may contribute to liver fat accumulation.Objective: We aimed to study the consumption of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages and their mutual replacement in relation to hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) in middle-aged men and women.Methods: In this cross-sectional analysis, HTGC was assessed by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Habitual consumption of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages was assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. All beverages were converted to standard servings and to percentage of total energy intake (En%). We performed linear regression to examine the association of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages with HTGC, adjusted for age, sex, smoking, education, ethnicity, physical activity, total energy intake, and total body fat. We studied replacement of alcoholic beverages with nonalcoholic beverages per 1 serving/d and per 5 En%/d.Results: After exclusion of individuals with missing values, 1966 participants (47% men) were analyzed, with a mean +/- SD age of 55 +/- 6 y, BMI of 26 +/- 4 kg/m(2), and HTGC of 5.7% +/- 7.9%. Each extra alcoholic serving per day was associated with more liver fat (1.09 times; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.12). Replacing 5 En% of alcoholic beverages with milk was associated with less liver fat (0.89 times; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.98), whereas replacement with 5 En% of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with liver fat to an extent similar to alcoholic beverages (1.00 times; 95% CI: 0.91, 1.09).Conclusion: In a population-based cohort, consumption of each extra daily alcoholic beverage was associated with more liver fat. In isocaloric replacement of alcoholic beverages, milk was associated with less liver fat, whereas sugar-sweetened beverages were equally associated with liver fat. This suggests that intake of alcohol and sugars may contribute to liver fat accumulation.
AB - Background: Fatty liver is the leading cause of chronic liver diseases and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Besides alcohol consumption, energy-containing nonalcoholic beverages may contribute to liver fat accumulation.Objective: We aimed to study the consumption of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages and their mutual replacement in relation to hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) in middle-aged men and women.Methods: In this cross-sectional analysis, HTGC was assessed by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Habitual consumption of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages was assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. All beverages were converted to standard servings and to percentage of total energy intake (En%). We performed linear regression to examine the association of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages with HTGC, adjusted for age, sex, smoking, education, ethnicity, physical activity, total energy intake, and total body fat. We studied replacement of alcoholic beverages with nonalcoholic beverages per 1 serving/d and per 5 En%/d.Results: After exclusion of individuals with missing values, 1966 participants (47% men) were analyzed, with a mean +/- SD age of 55 +/- 6 y, BMI of 26 +/- 4 kg/m(2), and HTGC of 5.7% +/- 7.9%. Each extra alcoholic serving per day was associated with more liver fat (1.09 times; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.12). Replacing 5 En% of alcoholic beverages with milk was associated with less liver fat (0.89 times; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.98), whereas replacement with 5 En% of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with liver fat to an extent similar to alcoholic beverages (1.00 times; 95% CI: 0.91, 1.09).Conclusion: In a population-based cohort, consumption of each extra daily alcoholic beverage was associated with more liver fat. In isocaloric replacement of alcoholic beverages, milk was associated with less liver fat, whereas sugar-sweetened beverages were equally associated with liver fat. This suggests that intake of alcohol and sugars may contribute to liver fat accumulation.
KW - alcohol consumption
KW - liver fat
KW - substitution
KW - alcoholic beverages
KW - nonalcoholic beverages
U2 - 10.1093/jn/nxy313
DO - 10.1093/jn/nxy313
M3 - Article
C2 - 30949667
SN - 0022-3166
VL - 149
SP - 649
EP - 658
JO - Journal of Nutrition
JF - Journal of Nutrition
IS - 4
ER -