title: Light alcohol consumption plays a protective role against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in Japanese men with metabolic syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although excess alcohol consumption has been believed to cause liver injury, light alcohol consumption (LAC) has been reported to play a protective role against fatty liver in recent studies. However, the association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and LAC in men with metabolic syndrome (MS) is unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the association between NAFLD and LAC in men with MS.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were 1055 men with MS who underwent a regular health check-up and drank less 20 g/day of alcohol. A distinction was made between non-drinkers and light drinkers and the association between NAFLD and LAC in men with MS was elucidated. NAFLD was referred as fatty liver with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels ≧31 IU/L in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and the prevalence of NAFLD were significantly lower in light drinkers than in non-drinkers. Logistic regression analysis showed body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), uric acid (UA), haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), visceral fat type MS and LAC (odds ratios: 0.654; 95% confidence intervals: 0.473-0.906; <0.05) were significant predictors of the prevalence of NAFLD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of NAFLD in light drinkers was significantly lower than in non-drinkers, and supporting previous reports studying the general population, LAC is one of the significant predictors of a decreased prevalence of NAFLD in men with MS.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Community Health Science, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.|Department of Gastroenterology, Kagawa Prefectural Cancer Detection Center, Takamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sogabe
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Community Health Science, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okahisa
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomonari
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Tsurugi Municipal Handa Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakasono
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takayama
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D044466:Asian People; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D015992:Body Mass Index; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat; D007564:Japan; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin; D014527:Uric Acid; C517652:hemoglobin A1c protein, human
keywords: NAFLD; light alcohol consumption; men; metabolic syndrome; ultrasonography