Yoshito Yabe

The incidence of non-obese non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), characterized by the presence of a fatty liver in individuals with a normal body mass index, is on the rise globally. Effective management strategies, including lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise therapy, are urgently needed to address this growing public health concern. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between non-obese NAFLD, dietary habits, and physical activity levels. By elucidating these relationships, this research may contribute to the development of evidence-based recommendations for the management of non-obese NAFLD. The study had a single-center retrospective cross-sectional design and compared clinical data and dietary and physical activity habits between patients with and without non-obese NAFLD. Logistic regression analysis was utilized to investigate the relationship between food intake frequency and the development of NAFLD. Among the 455 patients who visited the clinic during the study period, 169 were selected for analysis, including 74 with non-obese NAFLD and 95 without NAFLD. The non-obese NAFLD group showed a less-frequent consumption of fish and fish products as well as olive oil and canola/rapeseed oil, while they showed more frequent consumption of pastries and cake, snack foods and fried sweets, candy and caramels, salty foods, and pickles compared to the non-NAFLD group. Logistic regression analysis revealed that NAFLD was significantly associated with the consumption of fish, fish products, and pickles at least four times a week. The physical activity level was lower and the exercise frequency was lower in patients with non-obese NAFLD compared to those without NAFLD. The results of this study suggest that a low consumption of fish and fish products and high consumption of pickles may be associated with a higher risk of non-obese NAFLD. Moreover, dietary habits and physical activity status should be taken into consideration for the management of patients with non-obese NAFLD. It is important to develop effective management strategies, such as dietary and exercise interventions, to prevent and treat NAFLD in this patient population.

Aim: Malnutrition is associated with poor outcomes in cerebral infarction patients, with research indicating that early nutritional initiation may improve the short‐term prognosis of patients. However, evidence supported by big data is lacking. Here, to determine the effect of nutritional initiation during the first 3 days after hospital admission on home discharge rates, propensity score matching was conducted in patients with acute cerebral infarction.Methods: This retrospective observational study, using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination anonymised database in Japan, included 41 477 ischaemic cerebral infarction patients hospitalised between 2016 and 2019. The patients were divided into two groups: those who received oral or enteral nutrition during the first 3 days of hospital admission (early nutrition group, n = 37 318) and those who did not (control group, n = 4159). One‐to‐one pair‐matching was performed using propensity scores calculated via extreme gradient boosting to limit the confounding variables of the two groups.Results: After propensity score matching, 3541 pairs of patients were selected. The dependence of home discharge rates on early nutrition was significant (p < 0.05), and the effectiveness of early nutrition for home discharge showed an odds ratio of 1.79 (95% confidence interval of 1.59–2.03 in Fisher's exact test).Conclusions: Our findings revealed that early nutritional initiation during the first 3 days of admission resulted in higher home discharge rates.

(1) Aim: Hepatic fibrosis is a prognostic factor for disease progression in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to determine the relationships between diet, physical activity, and the progression of liver fibrosis. (2) Methods: The 349 participants were categorized by their FibroScan-aspartate aminotransferase score, and they completed a questionnaire regarding their diet and physical activity. (3) Results: There were 233 patients in the negative-on-screening group, 78 in the gray zone group, and 38 in the positive-on-screening group. The frequencies of consumption of soybeans and soybean products and of light-colored vegetables were lower in the positive group; whereas the frequencies of consumption of snack food and fried sweets, jelly and pudding, fried food, and butter, lard, and beef tallow were higher. The odds ratios for the fibrosis progression in patients who consumed fried food ≥4 times/week was 2.21. The positive group also showed lower physical activity level (PAL) and exercise (Ex, metabolic equivalents for tasks (METs)/hour/week). The patients who undertook Ex at >7.5 had an odds ratio of 0.21 for the fibrosis progression. (4) Conclusion: High consumption of fried food and low Ex are risk factors for the fibrosis progression in NAFLD.