Published online May 27, 2022. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v14.i5.1006
Peer-review started: November 6, 2021
First decision: December 27, 2021
Revised: January 28, 2022
Accepted: May 7, 2022
Article in press: May 7, 2022
Published online: May 27, 2022
Processing time: 199 Days and 4.2 Hours
Dietary phytochemicals are plant-derived bioactive compounds. It has been previously suggested that these compounds may be hepatoprotective; however, the existing literature concerning this is equivocal.
In addition to the debatable hepatoprotective nature of dietary phytochemicals, there has been little research investigating this specifically in an Iranian population.
To determine the if the intake of dietary phytochemicals is hepatoprotective.
Participants recruited to the PERSIAN cohort study were asked to complete a validated food frequency questionnaire. We applied a dietary phytochemical index to this data in order to categorise participants based upon their phytochemical intake. We then used linear regression to investigate the association between the dietary phytochemical index and levels of liver enzymes using both crude and adjusted models.
We found significant and inverse associations between dietary phytochemical intake and alkaline phosphatase. This is possibly indicative of improved liver function. We also found that participants with higher intakes of dietary phytochemicals also had an overall healthier dietary pattern yet increased levels of serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose.
Although there may be hepatoprotective effects associated with increased dietary phytochemical intake in addition to a healthier overall dietary pattern, these may be accompanied by a a number of metabolic abnormalities.
Future research should seek to determine the validity of our findings and to elucidate any factors which may be responsible for any metabolic abnormalities associated with an increased intake of dietary phytochemicals.