Relationship between diet quality and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease predictor indices in Iranian patients with metabolic syndrome: A cross-sectional study

The present study aimed to assess the association between diet quality and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) predictor indices in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS). This cross-sectional study was carried out among 344 adult patients with MetS. The diet quality of patients was calculated by Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015). NAFLD predictor indices (Hepatic Steatosis Index [HSI], Triglyceride-Glucose Index [TyG], and Fatty Liver Index [FLI]) were calculated and compared according to the HEI-2015 quartiles. The relationship between the HEI-2015 score and HSI, FLI, and TyG Index was estimated using multiple linear regression analysis. The findings of the present study revealed that patients with the highest HEI score had the lowest FLI score (p =.003) and HSI score (p =.05). There was an inverse relationship between the HEI-2015 score and FLI (beta = -0.49; p <.001), HSI (beta = -0.05; p =.25), and TyG Index (beta = -0.002; p =.34). According to our result, after adjusting for possible confounding factors, there was a statistically significant inverse association between HEI-2015 and FLI.