Adults who closely follow a Mediterranean diet face a lower risk of developing fatty liver disease, according to a new study published in Nutrition Research. The research marks the first attempt to measure how common the condition is among Greek adults nationwide, and it links stronger diet adherence to better liver health outcomes.
The condition, known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), affects the liver when fat builds up in its cells. Researchers found that 17.3% of adults in the study were afflicted with the condition. Based on that rate, the disease may affect roughly three million people across Greece.
The study was led by Emmanuella Magriplis of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the Agricultural University of Athens. Her team analyzed data from more than one thousand adults who took part in the Hellenic National Nutrition and Health Survey between 2013 and 2015.
Participants stemmed from the Greater Athens area (Attica) and Thessaloniki regions and provided blood samples, body measurements, and detailed diet records.
Mediterranean diet adherence cuts down risk for adults, study conducted in Greece found
The findings showed a clear pattern. For every one-point rise in a person’s Mediterranean diet score, the odds of developing fatty liver disease dropped by six percent. The effect was strongest among younger adults. Those between 19 and 39 who followed the diet most closely had 77 percent lower odds of the condition compared with those who followed it least.
Body weight played the biggest role overall. Adults who were overweight or obese faced far higher odds of fatty liver disease than those at a healthy weight, and this held up across every age group studied. The risk was highest among adults sixty and older, who were more than five times as likely to suffer from the condition compared with healthy-weight peers in the same age range.
Traditional eating habits fade amid rising obesity
Age also mattered. The disease showed up in about thirteen percent of younger adults but climbed to nearly 36 percent of adults sixty and older. Men were more likely than women to have the condition at every age.
Physical activity offered some protection but only for younger adults. Those who exercised at high levels had lower odds of fatty liver disease than those who were more sedentary. That protective link disappeared in older age groups.
Researchers noted that Greece has transitioned away from traditional Mediterranean eating habits in recent years, favoring processed and Western-style foods instead. That shift, combined with rising obesity rates nationwide, may be driving the increase in liver disease cases, the study suggests.
The authors called for public health efforts to encourage Greeks to return to Mediterranean eating patterns, particularly among younger adults, as a way to curb the condition before it progresses to liver damage in a greater proportion of the population.
