Excessive intake of artificially sweetened beverages may increase risk of NAFLD

A recent study by Ying Sun and colleagues from the UK Biobank has revealed concerning associations between the consumption of certain beverages and the risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). The study has  revealed that Excessive artificially sweetened beverages intake increased the risk of hospitalized NAFLD.

The study was published in Endocrine Practice.

The study, which included data from 136,277 participants without a history of liver disease, focused on the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), artificially sweetened beverages (ASB), and pure fruit juice (PJ) on the development of NAFLD.

In this cross-sectional study, NAFLD was defined using the fatty liver index (FLI), with a score of ≥60 indicating the presence of the disease. For the longitudinal setting, hospitalized NAFLD was defined as admission with ICD-10 codes K76.0 and K75.8. The researchers employed logistic regression for the cross-sectional analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression for the longitudinal investigation.

The findings indicated that consumption of SSB, ASB, and PJ was all linked to the risk of NAFLD. Compared to individuals who did not consume these beverages, those who consumed 1-2 liters or more per week had significantly higher odds of developing NAFLD.

Specifically, for SSB consumption, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratios were 1.06 (1.02-1.10) for ≤1 liter/week, 1.24 (1.19-1.29) for 1-2 liters/week, and 1.42 (1.35-1.49) for >2 liters/week. ASB consumption showed even more significant associations with NAFLD risk, with multivariate-adjusted odds ratios of 1.43 (1.37-1.50) for ≤1 liter/week, 1.73 (1.65-1.82) for 1-2 liters/week, and a substantial 2.37 (2.25-2.50) for >2 liters/week.

In contrast, the consumption of PJ showed a weak association, with multivariate-adjusted odds ratios of 0.87 (0.84-0.89) for ≤1 liter/week, 0.91 (0.88-0.94) for 1-2 liters/week, and 1.07 (1.02-1.13) for >2 liters/week.

Furthermore, the study followed participants for a median of 10.2 years, during which 1,043 cases of hospitalized NAFLD were recorded. ASB consumption at the levels of 1-2 liters/week and >2 liters/week was found to be associated with a 22% and 35% increased risk of incident hospitalized NAFLD, respectively. The results highlight a concerning trend, suggesting that the excessive consumption of artificially sweetened beverages may contribute to the development of NAFLD. 

Reference:

Sun, Y., Yu, B., Wang, Y., Wang, B., Tan, X., Lu, Y., Zhang, K., & Wang, N. (2023). Associations of sugar-sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages, and pure fruit juice with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: cross-sectional and longitudinal study. In Endocrine Practice. Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eprac.2023.06.002