The Association Between Coffee Consumption and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the South Korean General Population

Scope To identify the cross‐sectional and prospective association between coffee consumption and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among South Korean adults. Methods and Results Participants are selected from the Health Examinees study. NAFLD is defined using three non‐invasive indexes: fatty liver index (FLI), hepatic steatosis index, and fibrosis‐4 calculator (FIB‐4). In the cross‐sectional analysis, higher habitual coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk for NAFLD, define using the FLI, (men, odds ratio [OR] 0.702; women, OR 0.810) compared with non‐consumers. Participants who consumed coffee with sugar and creamer also have a lower risk for NAFLD, defined using the FIB‐4, compared with non‐coffee‐consumers (men, OR 0.739; women, OR 0.807). A prospective analysis indicated that higher coffee consumption is associated with a lower incidence of NAFLD, defined using the FLI, in men (hazard ratio, 0.706). In both men and women, a lower FIB‐4 index score is associated with higher coffee consumption regardless of coffee type (all p‐value 3 cups per day has a protective effect against the development of NAFLD to a certain extent, and a negative association is found between coffee consumed with sugar and creamer and the FIB‐4 index score in South Korean adults. There are generally consistent results about the cross‐sectional and longitudinal association between coffee consumption and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Higher habitual coffee consumption (> 3 cups per day) is associated with lower risk for NAFLD defined by fatty liver index compared to non‐consumers in men both in the cross‐sectional and prospective analyses.