Hypolactasia is associated with insulin resistance in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Aim: To 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.

Methods: This 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 multivariate logistic regression adjusted for gender and age were performed.

Results: No differences in the LCT-13910 genotype frequencies were noted between the NAFLD patients (66.67% of the patients with steatosis were CC, 33.33% were CT, and none were TT; 55.91% of the patients with NASH were CC, 39.78% were CT, and 4.3% were TT; P = 0.941) and the healthy controls (59.12% were CC, 35.67% were CT, and 5.21% were TT) or between the steatosis and NASH patients. That is, the distribution of the lactase non-persistence/lactase persistence polymorphism (LCT-13910C>T) in the patients with NAFLD was equal to that in the general population. In the NASH patients, the univariate analysis revealed that the lactase non-persistence (low lactase activity or hypolactasia) phenotype was associated with higher insulin levels (23.47 ± 15.94 μU/mL vs 15.8 ± 8.33 μU/mL, P = 0.027) and a higher frequency of insulin resistance (91.84% vs 72.22%, P = 0.02) compared with the lactase persistence phenotype. There were no associations between the LCT genotypes and diabetes (P = 0.651), dyslipidaemia (P = 0.328), hypertension (P = 0.507) or liver histology in these patients. Moreover, in the NASH patients, hypolactasia was an independent risk factor for insulin resistance even after adjusting for gender and age [OR = 5.0 (95%CI: 1.35-20; P = 0.017)].

Conclusion: The LCT-13910 genotype distribution in Brazilian NAFLD patients was the same as that of the general population, but hypolactasia increased the risk of insulin resistance in the NASH patients.