The Study
Dietary fiber intake, genetic predisposition of gut microbiota, and the risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.
This study looked at a lot of people over many years and found that those who ate more fiber tended to have less fat in their liver. But it didn’t make people change their diets — so we don’t know if the fiber itself caused the change, or if people who eat more fiber also do other healthy things.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Eating more fiber, like from fruits, veggies, and whole grains, helps keep fat from building up in your liver.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 565 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — even small increases in fiber (like adding an apple or a cup of beans) may help protect your liver, especially if you're overweight or have a family history of fatty liver.
- 2For every extra gram of fiber you eat daily, your liver fat drops by about 1%.
- 3People who ate more than 13.8g/day had 28% lower risk of fatty liver disease.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Food research international
Year
2025
Authors
Jinguo Jiang, Yang Liu, Honghao Yang, Zheng Ma, Wenqi Liu, Maoxiang Zhao, Xinyi Peng, Xueying Qin, Yang Xia
Related Content
Claims (6)
Women who consume more than 13.8 grams of dietary fiber per day have a lower prevalence of hepatic steatosis compared to those who consume less.
People who consume more dietary fiber have a 28% lower risk of developing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease over about 10.5 years, and each additional gram of fiber per day is linked to a measurable decrease in liver fat measured by MRI.
For every additional gram of dietary fiber consumed daily, liver fat content measured by MRI decreases by 0.97 percentage points, regardless of genetic risk for MASLD or levels of butyrate-producing gut bacteria.
People who eat more dietary fiber tend to have less fat in their liver, and this link is stronger in individuals with higher body weight and higher genetic risk for fatty liver disease.
People who consume more dietary fiber have a lower risk of developing MASLD, regardless of their genetic differences in gut bacteria levels or butyrate production.
Higher dietary fiber intake is consistently linked to lower risk of MASLD, and even small increases in fiber intake are associated with reduced risk without a minimum threshold.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.