title: Greater serum carotenoid levels associated with lower prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Chinese adults.
abstract: Previous studies have suggested that serum carotenoids may be inversely associated with liver injury, but limited data are available from population-based studies. We examined the relationship between serum carotenoid levels and the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Chinese adults. A total of 2935 participants aged 40-75 years were involved in this community-based cross-sectional study. General information, lifestyle factors, serum levels of carotenoid and the presence and degree of NAFLD were determined. After adjusting for potential covariates, we observed a dose-dependent inverse association between NAFLD risk and each individual serum carotenoid and total carotenoids (all p-values < 0.001). The ORs of NAFLD for the highest (vs. lowest) quartile were 0.44 (95% CI 0.35, 0.56) for α-carotene, 0.32 (95% CI 0.25, 0.41) for β-carotene, 0.62 (95% CI 0.49, 0.79) for β-cryptoxanthin, 0.54 (95% CI 0.42, 0.68) for lycopene, 0.56 (95% CI 0.44, 0.72) for lutein + zeaxanthin and 0.41 (95% CI 0.32, 0.53) for total carotenoids. Higher levels of α-carotene, β-carotene, lutein + zeaxanthin and total carotenoids were significantly associated with a decrease in the degree of NAFLD (p-trend: < 0.001 to 0.003). Serum carotenoids are inversely associated with prevalence of NAFLD in middle aged and elderly Chinese.
authors.affiliation: 1] Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China [2] Department of Medical Records, The first Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR.
authors.forename: Zhao-min
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wen-hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yu-ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Chen