The Association between Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Liver Enzymes (Aspartate and Alanine Transaminases) in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Intake of fiber and antioxidants and followinghypocaloric diets has beneficial effects on reduction of the liverenzymes. Fruits and vegetables are low in calorie and rich in fiberand antioxidants. There are few studies about special dietaryeffects on liver function. The aim of this study was to evaluate theassociation between fruit and vegetables intake and liver functionenzymes.METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 265Tehrani healthy adults. Fruit and vegetable intake was assessed bya 147-items semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Serumglucose, lipids, liver enzymes (alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST)), hs-Crp and body compositionwere measured in a fasting state.RESULTS: The mean age (± SD) of the participants was 35 ± 8.78.In the higher quartiles of vegetable intake, low-density lipoprotein(LDL) serum and total cholesterol (TC) levels were lower afteradjusting for confounders (p = 0.03 and 0.02 respectively).Individuals in the upper quartile of vegetable intake were less likelyto have elevated ALT (OR=0.21; 95% CI =0.08-0.49) and AST(OR=0.33; 95% CI =0.15-0.75) levels before adjusting forconfounders. After controlling for potential confounders, only theassociation between vegetable intake and ALT level remainedsignificant (OR=0.32; 95% CI =0.12-0.90). Liver enzymes had nosignificant relationship with the quartiles of fruit intake. In thehigher quartiles of fruit intake, the visceral fat rating was lowerafter adjustment (p = 0.04) but not in the higher vegetable intake (p= 0.50).CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed that vegetableintake is reversely associated with LDL, TC and ALT level inTehrani healthy adults, whereas fruit intake is only associated withlower visceral fat rating.