Diet and physical activity influence the risk of advanced liver disease in HCV

Dietary history and physical activity influence the risk of advanced liver disease in HCV, reports this month's issue of the Digestive Diseases & Sciences.

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The role of customary diet and physical activity in development of advanced HCV-related liver disease is not well-established.

Dr Donna White and colleagues conducted a retrospective association study in 91 male veterans with PCR-confirmed chronic HCV and biopsy-determined hepatic pathology.
Respondents completed the Block Food Frequency and the International Physical Activity questionnaires.
The research team conducted 3 independent assessments based on hepatic pathology, including fibrosis, inflammation, and steatosis.

Each assessment compared estimated dietary intake and physical activity in veterans with advanced disease to that in analogous veterans with mild disease.

Multivariate models adjusted for total calories, age, race/ethnicity, biopsy-to-survey lag-time, BMI, pack-years smoking, and current alcohol use.

Average veteran age was 52, with 48% African-American.
The researchers found that advanced fibrosis was more prevalent than advanced inflammation or steatosis.
The strongest multivariate association was the suggestive 14-fold significantly decreased advanced fibrosis risk with lowest dietary copper intake.

The team observed that other suggestive associations included the 7-fold significantly increased advanced inflammation risk with lower vitamin E intake, and 6-fold significantly increased advanced steatosis risk with lower riboflavin intake.

The only physical activity associated with degree of hepatic pathology was a 2-fold greater weekly MET-minutes walking in veterans with mild compared to advanced steatosis.
Dr White's team concluded, "Several dietary factors and walking may be associated with risk of advanced HCV-related liver disease in male veterans."

"However, given our modest sample size, our findings must be considered as provisional pending verification in larger prospective studies."

Dig Dis & Sci 2011: 56(6): 1835-47
21 June 2011