Adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and risk of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Abstract

This case–control study was conducted to examine the association between adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and risk of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) development in 102 patients with newly diagnosed NAFLD and 204 controls. Adherence to DASH-style diet was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire, and a DASH diet score based on food and nutrients emphasized or minimized in the DASH diet. Participants in the top quartile of DASH diet score were 30% less likely to have NAFLD (OR: 0.0.70; 95% CI: 0.61, 0.80); however, more adjustment for dyslipidemia and body mass index changed the association to non-significant (OR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.73, 1.12). In conclusion, we found an inverse relationship between the DASH-style diet and risk of NAFLD. Prospective studies are needed to confirm this association.

Keywords:

• Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension
• DASH diet
• NAFLD
• fatty liver
• NASH
• diet
• case–control

Acknowledgements

A.H. and H.P. conceptualized and designed the study and wrote the manuscript; A.H. analyzed data; A.S., M.M., N.G., T.E., and B.K. collected data; A.H. and H.P. interpreted the data, provided professional comments, and critically revised the manuscript for intellectual content and data accuracy.

The authors thank all the volunteers who participated in the study; indeed, without their participation the study would not have been possible. This work was supported by a grant from ‘National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute’ of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, and Digestive Disease Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Disclosure statement

None of the authors had any personal or financial conflicts of interest to report.