We investigated the association between dietary patterns and serum hepatic enzyme levels in adults with dyslipidemia and impaired fasting glucose in Taiwan. A total of 15,005 subjects (5452 men and 9553 women) aged 35-69 years were selected. Two major dietary patterns were identified by principal component analysis: Western dietary pattern and Mediterranean dietary pattern. Subjects in the highest quartile (Q4) of the Western dietary pattern showed an increased risk of elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels (OR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.06-1.45, p-trend = 0.01). Fur-thermore, in the highest quartile of the Western dietary pattern, subjects with high waist circum-ference were observed to have a greater risk for developing abnormal serum ALT levels compared to those in the lowest quartile (Q1) (OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.04-1.97, p-trend = 0.01). In the highest quartile of the Western dietary pattern, only women were at an increased risk for having abnormal serum ALT levels (OR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04-1.59, p-trend = 0.03). By contrast, in the highest quartile of the Mediterranean dietary pattern, only men were at a reduced risk for having abnormal serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) levels (OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.53-0.97, p-trend = 0.048). We report a positive association between the Western dietary pattern and abnormal serum ALT levels.
Keywords: Taiwan; cross-sectional study; dietary patterns; dyslipidemia; factor analysis; impaired fasting plasma glucose; serum hepatic enzyme.