This study aimed to evaluate the longitudinal association between sweet potato intake and risk of NAFLD in the general adult population. In total, the number of 15,787 participants (males, 42.4%) was included in this prospective cohort study. Sweet potato intake was assessed by using a validated food frequency questionnaire. NAFLD was diagnosed by transabdominal sonography during an annual health examination. Cox proportional hazards regression models were fitted to assess the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) across categories of energy-adjusted sweet potato intake. Compared to participants with the lowest tertile of sweet potato intake, the finally adjusted HRs (95% CIs) of incident NAFLD for those with the highest tertile were 0.87 (0.78, 0.97) in males (p for trend = 0.009); and 1.05 (0.92, 1.21) in females (p for trend = 0.52). Our study revealed that sweet potato intake was inversely associated with the risk of NAFLD in males.
Keywords: NAFLD; Sweet potato; cohort study; fatty liver.