The relationship between vitamin K and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease among the United States population: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2018

Xinyue Wang; Wei Zhang; Jiale Huang; Hongwei Li; Jian Gao

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1086477

The relationship between vitamin K and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease among the United States population: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2018

Front Nutr. 2023 Apr 14:10:1086477. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1086477. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xinyue Wang¹, Wei Zhang², Jiale Huang³, Hongwei Li², Jian Gao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition, Xiamen Clinical Research Center for Cancer Therapy, Zhongshan Hospital (Xiamen), Fudan University, Xiamen, Fujian province, China.
² School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
³ Department of Clinical Nutrition, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
⁴ Department of Nutrition, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: The effect of vitamin K is associated with several pathological processes in fatty liver. However, the association between vitamin K levels and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) remains unclear.

Objective: Here, we investigated the relationship between vitamin K intake and MAFLD risk by employing the American National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) including 3,571 participants.

Methods: MAFLD was defined as hepatic steatosis with one or more of the following: overweight or obesity, type 2 diabetes, or >2 other metabolic risk abnormalities. The total vitamin K was the sum of dietary and supplement dietary intake. The relationship of between log₁₀(vitamin K) and MAFLD was investigated using survey-weighted logistic regression and stratified analysis, with or without dietary supplementation.

Results: The MAFLD population had a lower vitamin K intake than the non-MAFLD population (p = 0.024). Vitamin K levels were inversely associated with MAFLD in the fully adjusted model (OR = 0.488, 95% CI: 0.302-0.787, p = 0.006). Consistent results were seen in the group without dietary supplements (OR = 0.373, 95% CI: 0.186-0.751, p = 0.009) but not in the group consuming dietary supplements (OR = 0.489, 95% CI: 0.238-1.001, p = 0.050).

Conclusion: Vitamin K intake may be a protective factor for MAFLD, especially for individual not using dietary supplements. Nevertheless, more high-quality prospective studies are needed to clarify the causal relationship between them.

Keywords: NHANES; cross-sectional analysis; dietary supplements; metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease; vitamin K.