Modest alcohol consumption decreases the risk of fatty liver disease or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A meta-analysis

Modest alcohol consumption decreases the risk of fatty liver disease or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A meta-analysis

Journal Article

2016

Medical Journal of Chinese People's Liberation Army

41

7

598 - 606

2016

05777402 (ISSN)

Objective To evaluate the association between modest alcohol consumption and the risk of fatty liver disease (FLD) or nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Digital Journal Full-text Database, and database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP) till Nov. 2015 were searched for the studies in evaluating the effect of alcohol consumption on FLD or NAFLD. The quality assessment of included studies was performed according to the combined evaluation for cross-sectional studies and Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) for cohort studies. A meta-analysis was performed using Stata12.0 software. Results A total of 16 studies including 13 cross-sectional studies, 2 cross-sectional following longitudinal studies, and 1 cohort study with 76 967 participants were selected finally. The results of Meta-analysis were as follows. Minimal and light alcohol consumptions reduced the risk for FLD or NAFLD by 17% and 27%, respectively, and moderate alcohol consumption was marginally associated with decreased risk for FLD or NAFLD. The results of subgroup analysis by gender showed that (1) Minimal and light alcohol consumptions reduced the risk of FLD or NAFLD by 29% and 33%, respectively, but moderate alcohol consumption was not statistically significant in reducing the risk of FLD or NAFLD in females compared with controls; (2) Light alcohol consumption reduced the risk of FLD or NAFLD by 23%, but minimal and moderate alcohol consumptions were not statistically significant in reducing the risk of FLD or NAFLD in male compared with controls; (3) Light and moderate alcohol consumptions in Asian males reduced the risk of FLD or NAFLD by 29.7% and 30.3%, respectively. Conclusions Modest alcohol consumptions may not increase the risk of FLD or NAFLD. Inversely, minimal and light alcohol consumptions in female reduce the risk of FLD or NAFLD remarkably, and light to moderate alcohol consumption in males, especially in Asian males, can also significantly reduce the risk of FLD or NAFLD.