Besides a clinical and laboratory evaluation, each subject underwent a liver ultrasonography, an anthropometric assessment and a 7-day diary of food intake (7DD) [1 (link)]. HBsAg and anti-HCV antibodies were assessed and subjects with anti-HCV antibodies underwent an HCV-RNA assessment to confirm HCV infection [1 (link),14 (link)]. ALT, aspartate transaminase (AST), GGT, glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol were measured by standard laboratory methods after 8-hr fasting. Insulin was measured by radio-immuno-assay (ADVIA Insulin Ready Pack 100, Bayer Diagnostics, Milan, Italy), with intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation < 5%. FL was diagnosed by the same operator at ultrasonography [6 (link)]. Weight, stature, circumferences (waist and hip) and skinfolds (triceps, biceps, subscapular and suprailiac) were measured by two trained dietitians who had been standardized before and during the study according to standard procedures [15 ]. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg)/stature (m)2 and the sum of 4 skinfolds by summing triceps, biceps, subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds [16 (link),17 (link)]. The 7DD was administered to the subjects by two trained dietitians, who discussed it with the subject when she/he returned it one week later [18 (link)]. To avoid the confounding effect of seasonality on food intake, the 7DD diary was administered to a similar number of patients with and without SLD each month [19 ]. Mean daily ethanol intake was calculated as the mean value of ethanol intake as assessed by the 7DD [20 ]. The study protocol was approved and supervised by the Scientific Committee of the Fondo per lo Studio delle Malattie del Fegato (Trieste, Italy), and all subjects gave their written informed consent to participate.
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