Food Insecurity and Lipid Profile Abnormalities Are Associated with an Increased Risk of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD): A Case–Control Study

ABSTRACT

This case–control study aimed to assess the relationship between food insecurity, its related risk factors and NAFLD among 210 subjects. The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, anthropometric indices, and food insecurity and depression status were assessed. The prevalence of food insecurity was 56.8% and 26.1% in cases and controls (p < .001), respectively. The chance of NAFLD in the food insecure, depressed, overweight, and obese subjects was 2.2 (95%CI: 1.12–3.43), 1.9 (95%CI: 1.02–3.62), 2.6 (95%CI: 1.81–3.92), and 2.9 (95%CI: 2.02–5.34) times higher than food secured, normal, and normal weight subjects, respectively. A higher waist circumference (men, OR = 2.9, p < .001; women, OR = 2.6, p < .001), a high waist-to-hip ratio (men, OR = 2.3, p < .001; women, OR = 2.7, p < .001), an increased waist-to-height ratio (OR = 2.9, p < .001), and a higher body fat percentage (men, OR = 3.0, p < .001; women, OR = 3.3, p < .001) were associated with an increased risk of NAFLD. The odds of NAFLD increased by increment in serum triglyceride (TG) levels (OR = 2.6, p < .001) and decreased by increase in serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (OR = 0.34, p < .001). Compared to controls, patients with NAFLD were more likely to have higher TG/HDL-C ratio (OR = 3.3, p < .001). It seems food insecurity was an important risk factor for NAFLD. Additionally, some indicators of dyslipidemia significantly increased the risk of NAFLD.

KEYWORDS:

• Food insecuity
• lipid profile
• NAFLD
• socioeconomic factors

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Nutrition Research Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for their support.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Science. (ethics code; IR.TBZMED.REC.1397.694). Informed written consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to an ethical restriction but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Authors’ contributions

HT, AO, and MSA designed research and contributed to the conception of the project, development of overall research plan, and study oversight; HT was the author of the research; MEM contributed to the final revisions of the manuscript. All authors are in agreement with the manuscript and declare that the content has not been published elsewhere.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Nutrition Research Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.