Dietary inflammatory index and the risks of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

BackgroundPrevious studies have suggested a correlation between dietary inflammatory potential and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the association between dietary inflammatory potential, measured by the dietary inflammation index (DII), and NAFLD.MethodsFrom establishing the database to June 2023, a systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane Library were performed to identify relevant observational studies. These studies reported a correlation between DII and NAFLD. The meta-analysis used odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) to evaluate the relationship between DII and NAFLD.ResultsEight studies were included in this meta-analysis after excluding irrelevant records. A summary of the results from the included studies showed that the risk of NAFLD was higher in those exposed to higher DII (OR = 1.26, 95%CI 1.12 to 1.40, p < 0.001), with a high degree of heterogeneity (I2 = 85.7%, p < 0.001). When DII was divided into 3 tertiles from low to high for comparison, the results showed that the risk of NAFLD was higher in Tertile 2 (T2) population compared to the Tertile 1 (T1) population (OR = 1.75, 95%CI 1.20 to 2.54, p < 0.005). The risk of NAFLD was significantly higher in Tertile 3 (T3) compared to the T1 population (OR = 3.07, 95%CI 1.63 to 5.77, p = 0.001).ConclusionThe results suggest that high DII is associated with an increased risk of NAFLD, and conversely, low DII is associated with a decreased risk of NAFLD.Systematic Review RegistrationThe study complies with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and is registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023455013).