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
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 log 10 (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.