Sugar-sweetened Beverages Are Associated With Increased Liver Stiffness and Steatosis Among Apparently Healthy Adults in the United States

Lifestyle change is the cornerstone of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease management. Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are a promising target. First, SSBs are associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and interventions to reduce SSB consumption reduce the burden of liver fat.1 Second, formal guidance uniformly recommend against SSBs.2 Herein, we analyze the 2017-2018 wave of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), examining a nationally representative sample of persons without comorbidities or known liver disease to examine the associations between SSB consumption and both liver fibrosis and liver fat using vibration-controlled transient elastography.