Yiannakou Ioanna, Long Michelle T, Jacques Paul F, Beiser Alexa, Pickering Richard T, Moore Lynn L
Department of Medicine/Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States.
Department of Medicine/Section of Gastroenterology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; Novo Nordisk A/S, Vandtårnsvej 108-110 Søborg Denmark.
J Nutr. 2025 Mar;155(3):923-935. doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.10.026. Epub 2024 Oct 16.
Eggs are rich in bioactive compounds, including choline and carotenoids that may benefit cardiometabolic outcomes. However, little is known about their relationship with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
We investigated the association between intakes of eggs and selected egg-rich nutrients (choline, lutein, and zeaxanthin) and NAFLD risk and changes in liver fat over ∼6 y of follow-up in the Framingham Offspring and Third Generation cohorts.
On 2 separate occasions (2002-2005 and 2008-2011), liver fat was assessed using a computed tomography scan to estimate the average liver fat attenuation relative to a control phantom to create the liver phantom ratio (LPR). In 2008-2011, cases of incident NAFLD were identified as an LPR ≤0.33 in the absence of heavy alcohol use, after excluding prevalent NAFLD (LPR ≤0.33) in 2002-2005. Food frequency questionnaires were used to estimate egg intakes (classified as <1, 1, and ≥2 per week), dietary choline (adjusted for body weight using the residual method), and the combined intakes of lutein and zeaxanthin. Multivariable modified Poisson regression and general linear models were used to compute incident risk ratios (RR) of NAFLD and adjusted mean annualized liver fat change.
NAFLD cumulative incidence was 19% among a total of 1414 participants. We observed no associations between egg intake or the combined intakes of lutein and zeaxanthin with an incident NAFLD risk or liver fat change. Other diet and cardiometabolic risk factors did not modify the association between egg intake and NAFLD risk. However, dietary choline intakes were inversely associated with NAFLD risk (RR for tertile 3 compared with tertile 1: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.51, 0.94).
Although egg intake was not directly associated with NAFLD risk, eggs are a major source of dietary choline, which was strongly inversely associated with NAFLD risk in this community-based cohort.
鸡蛋富含生物活性化合物，包括胆碱和类胡萝卜素，可能对心脏代谢结局有益。然而，关于它们与非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）的关系知之甚少。
我们在弗雷明汉后代队列和第三代队列中，调查了鸡蛋及某些富含鸡蛋的营养素（胆碱、叶黄素和玉米黄质）的摄入量与NAFLD风险以及约6年随访期间肝脏脂肪变化之间的关联。
在两个不同的时间段（2002 - 2005年和2008 - 2011年），使用计算机断层扫描评估肝脏脂肪，以相对于对照体模估计平均肝脏脂肪衰减，从而得出肝脏体模比率（LPR）。在2008 - 2011年，在排除2002 - 2005年的现患NAFLD（LPR≤0.33）且无大量饮酒的情况下，将LPR≤0.33的新发NAFLD病例识别出来。使用食物频率问卷来估计鸡蛋摄入量（分为每周<1个、1个和≥2个）、膳食胆碱（使用残差法根据体重进行调整）以及叶黄素和玉米黄质的联合摄入量。采用多变量修正泊松回归和一般线性模型来计算NAFLD的发病风险比（RR）以及调整后的平均年化肝脏脂肪变化。
在总共1414名参与者中，NAFLD的累积发病率为19%。我们未观察到鸡蛋摄入量或叶黄素与玉米黄质的联合摄入量与新发NAFLD风险或肝脏脂肪变化之间存在关联。其他饮食和心脏代谢风险因素并未改变鸡蛋摄入量与NAFLD风险之间的关联。然而，膳食胆碱摄入量与NAFLD风险呈负相关（与第一三分位数相比，第三三分位数的RR：0.69，95%CI：0.51，0.94）。
尽管鸡蛋摄入量与NAFLD风险没有直接关联，但鸡蛋是膳食胆碱的主要来源，在这个基于社区的队列中，膳食胆碱与NAFLD风险呈强烈负相关。
