Association of meat consumption with NAFLD risk and liver-related biochemical indexes in older Chinese: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Non-alcohol fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease and an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to an increased risk of NAFLD. The present study aims to evaluate the association of meat consumption with NAFLD risk and liver-related biochemical indexes in middle-aged and elderly Chinese. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in individuals who were 45 years or older and underwent a physical examination from April 2015 to August 2017 in Southeast China. To evaluate associations between meat intake and NAFLD risk, inverse probability of treatment weighting and subgroup analyses were performed with logistic regressions. Spearman’s rank correlation was carried out to examine the relationship between meat consumptions and liver-related biochemical indexes. RESULTS: High consumptions of red meat (28.44–49.74 and > 71.00 g/day) (OR(adjusted) = 1.948; P < 0.001; OR(adjusted) = 1.714; P = 0.002) was positively associated with NAFLD risk on inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis, adjusting for smoking, tea intake, weekly hours of physical activity and presence of hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes. Exposure–response relationship analysis presented that red meat intake was positively associated with NAFLD risk. Significant associations of red meat intakes with serum levels of γ-glutamyl transferase, alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, total triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were found (r(s) = 0.176; P < 0.001; r(s) = 0.128; P < 0.001; r(s) = 0.060; P = 0.016; r(s) = 0.085; P = 0.001; r(s) = − 0.074; P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the reduction of meat consumption may decrease NAFLD risk and should warrant further investigations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12876-021-01688-7.