Higher consumption of animal organ meat is associated with a lower prevalence of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

BACKGROUND: Animal organ meat (offal) is a food with high nutrient density that is popular in different parts of the world, but its relationship with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is unclear. We aimed to examine whether daily animal organ meat consumption is associated with the presence of NASH in individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: A total of 136 Chinese adults with biopsy-proven NAFLD were included. Definite NASH was defined as NAFLD activity score ≥4 and at least one point for steatosis, ballooning, and lobular inflammation. Daily animal organ meat consumption was estimated using a self-administered validated food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between animal organ meat intake and liver disease severity. RESULTS: The 136 participants (80.9% men) of the study had a mean ± standard deviation (SD) age of 39.0±12.5 years and body mass index of 27.4±3.6 kg/m(2). Prevalence of definite NASH was 65.4%. Daily median organ meat consumption was 1.30 g/1,000 kcal. Animal organ meat consumption was inversely associated with the presence of NASH even after adjustment of demographics, lifestyle variables, metabolic and dietary factors, as well as liver fibrosis stage; adjusted-odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for NASH were 0.15 (0.03, 0.69) for the highest tertile and 0.18 (0.05, 0.70) for the medium tertile, compared to the lowest (reference) tertile of animal organ meat intake (P value for trend =0.024). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest for the first time that higher animal organ meat consumption is associated with a lower prevalence of NASH in Chinese individuals with biopsy-proven NAFLD.