Hypolactasia is associated with insulin resistance in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

AIMTo assess lactase gene (LCT )-13910C>T polymorphisms in Brazilian non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients in comparison with healthy controls. METHODSThis was a transverse observational clinical study with NAFLD patients who were followed at the Hepatology Outpatient Unit of the Hospital das Clínicas, São Paulo, Brazil.The polymorphism of lactase non-persistence/ lactase persistence (LCT -13910C>T) was examined by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique in 102 liver biopsy-proven NAFLD patients (steatosis in 9 and NASH in 93) and compared to those of 501 unrelated healthy volunteers.Anthropometric, clinical, biochemical and liver histology data were analyzed.Continuous variables were compared using the t or Mann-Whitney tests, and categorical data were compared with the Fisher's exact test.Univariate logistic regression and