In a recent study published in Metabolism, researchers investigate the correlation between a healthy lifestyle and Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) scores in new-onset severe non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Study: A healthy lifestyle, Life’s Essential 8 scores and new-onset severe NAFLD: A prospective evaluation in UK Biobank. Image Credit: Explode / Shutterstock.com

Approaches to mitigate the results of NAFLD

NAFLD is a major explanation for hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis, in addition to heart problems (CVD). Nevertheless, the connection between new-onset NAFLD and a healthy lifestyle stays unclear.

The American Heart Association (AHA) created Life’s Easy 7 (LS7) in 2010, which offers patient-centered guidelines for CV health (CVH). LS7 consists of 4 health behaviors, including body mass index (BMI), physical activity, food plan, and smoking, in addition to three health aspects, including blood glucose, blood lipids, and blood pressure.

Recently, the AHA described a brand new method for measuring CVH called Life’s Essential 8 (LE8), which is an updated and improved way of defining and quantifying CVH.

In regards to the study

The UK Biobank gathered data from greater than 500,000 participants between 40 and 70 years of age throughout the U.K. between 2006 and 2010. This data included participants’ physical measurements, questionnaires, sample assays, and longitudinal follow-up for various health-related outcomes.

Variables for a healthy lifestyle were developed using six established risk aspects, including BMI, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, sleep duration, physical activity, and dietary consumption. A standardized touchscreen questionnaire was used for the baseline assessment of the participants. Overall, lifestyle aspects were classified as ideal, intermediate, or poor.

The LE8 food plan rating was graded based on some extent system. Scoring eight or higher earned 100 points, scoring between six and eight earned 80 points, scoring between 4 and 6 earned 50 points, scoring between two and 4 earned 25 points, and scoring lower than two earned zero points.

The first final result of the study was the occurrence of new-onset severe NAFLD, whereas the secondary final result was new-onset severe liver disease, including compensated or decompensated liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver failure, and liver-related mortality.

A healthy lifestyle reduces risk of NAFLD complications

The present study involved 2,66,645 participants, including 133,223 women with a mean age of 56.4 years and a mean LE8 rating was 65.8. Furthermore, 22,541 study participants were regarded as having low CVH, 217,513 with moderate CVH, and 26,591 with high CVH.

Individuals with a high CVH tended to be younger, have higher levels of education, and have a lower deprivation index. This study cohort was also more prone to be women and White and fewer prone to be prescribed cholesterol-lowering, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic medications.

About 13.5% of participants had poor lifestyles, 76.8% had intermediate lifestyles, and 9.7% had ideal lifestyles. During a median follow-up period of virtually 12 years, 0.9% of participants developed severe NAFLD.

A major association was observed between each lifestyle factor and the danger of developing severe NAFLD. For instance, participants with a really perfect smoking level, alcohol intake, BMI, food plan, physical activity, and sleep duration were less prone to develop new-onset severe NAFLD as in comparison with those with a poor lifestyle.

Participants with ideal or intermediate lifestyles were also less prone to develop new-onset severe NAFLD as in comparison with those with poor lifestyles. The truth is, a really perfect lifestyle at baseline could have prevented almost 67% of new-onset severe NAFLD cases in comparison with those with a combined intermediate/poor lifestyle.

The high and moderate CVH cohorts had a significantly lower likelihood of developing new-onset severe NAFLD than the low overall CVH cohort. Moreover, high CVH could have prevented 77.3% of new-onset severe NAFLD.

A U-shaped correlation was observed between severe NAFLD risk and sleep duration, with the bottom risk reported at six to eight or fewer hours of sleep every night. Thus, sleep duration appears to be an independent contributor to health outcomes and must be regarded as a CVH metric. The association remained significant after adjusting for other LE8 metrics and essential covariates.

Roughly 1% of new-onset severe liver diseases were reported through the follow-up period. Moreover, participants who led ideal or intermediate lifestyles were less prone to develop new-onset severe liver disease than those that led poor lifestyles. The likelihood of developing new-onset severe liver diseases was also significantly lower within the high and moderate CVH cohorts as in comparison with the low overall CVH group.

Conclusions

Individuals who maintain a healthy lifestyle and have a better LE8 rating are less prone to develop severe NAFLD, regardless of their genetic predisposition. Following a healthy lifestyle and achieving a better LE8 rating could prevent almost 67% and 77% of severe NAFLD cases. These findings suggest that encouraging a healthy lifestyle and achieving a better LE8 rating could potentially prevent NAFLD.