Modest alcohol consumption decreases the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a meta-analysis of 43 175 individuals.

SILVIA C. SOOKOIAN; GUSTAVO O CASTAÑO; CARLOS JOSE PIROLA

GUT - AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEOROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY

B M J PUBLISHING GROUP

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013

0017-5749

Epidemiological studies suggested that the prevalence and the disease severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are lower for people who drink modest amounts of alcohol than those who are abstainers. Nevertheless, the evidence is still inconclusive because some recently published studies1 showed that modest alcohol consumption (MAC) increases hepatic fat without increasing the risk of advanced fibrosis. Remarkably, we found in our population that MAC has a beneficial effect in preventing not only NAFLD but the main features of the metabolic syndrome, including body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance and C-reactive protein levels. Accordingly, NAFLD and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) prevalence, liver enzymes and inflammatory markers were lower in subjects who took modest amounts of alcohol than those who are abstainers (table 1). Hence, we propose to take advantage of meta-analysis to estimate from published data the effect of MAC on the odds of having NAFLD to give a quantitative assessment of this relationship. The drinkers were classified into two groups: nondrinkers, persons who drinks 0 g/day of alcohol, and light or modest drinkers, persons who drinks less than 40 g/day of alcohol; all the studies accomplished the inclusion criteria. Thus, we addressed two different relevant clinical questions.