Hamaguchi M, Kojima T. Favorable effect of modest alcohol consumption to fatty liver disease. World J Gastroenterol 2013; 19(32): 5393-5394 [PMID: 23983447 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i32.5393]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Masahide Hamaguchi, MD, PhD, Department of Experimental Immunology, World Premier International Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Yamadaoka, 1-1, Suita 565-0871, Japan. mhamaguchi@ifrec.osaka-u.ac.jp
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Letters To The Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 28, 2013; 19(32): 5393-5394 Published online Aug 28, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i32.5393
Favorable effect of modest alcohol consumption to fatty liver disease
Masahide Hamaguchi, Takao Kojima
Masahide Hamaguchi, Department of Experimental Immunology, World Premier International Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan
Takao Kojima, Department of Gastroenterology, Murakami Memorial Hospital, Asahi University, Gifu 500-8523, Japan
Author contributions: Hamaguchi M and Kojima T wrote this letter; Hamaguchi M revised the letter.
Supported by Young Scientists (B) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, No. 23790791
Correspondence to: Masahide Hamaguchi, MD, PhD, Department of Experimental Immunology, World Premier International Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Yamadaoka, 1-1, Suita 565-0871, Japan. mhamaguchi@ifrec.osaka-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-6-68794963 Fax: +81-6-68794464
Received: May 3, 2013 Revised: July 9, 2013 Accepted: July 17, 2013 Published online: August 28, 2013
Abstract
We previously reported that modest alcohol consumption was significantly inversely associated with fatty liver disease. Feng et al pointed out a discrepancy of statistical significance between our current larger scale cohort and a previous cohort. However, the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease was higher in non or minimal drinkers than those in light drinkers in both cohorts. They also argue that some potential co-factors such as soft drink consumption and genetic variations should be discussed.
Core tip: We reported the inversed association of modest alcohol consumption with fatty liver disease. However, other potential co-factors were argued to be important. Herein, we reply and discuss these important factors in this letter.
