People with signs of fatty liver disease who reported eating more of five nutrients involved in one-carbon metabolism went on to have fewer liver-related events, according to a UK Biobank analysis published on 3 September 2026 in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The authors, based mainly at institutions in China, followed 46,800 participants classified as having metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, on a fatty liver index score of 60 or above. Over a median 13.3 years there were 291 liver-related events and 3,547 deaths. Comparing the highest intake group with the lowest, the reported hazard ratio for a liver-related event was 0.66 (95 per cent confidence interval 0.48 to 0.92) for vitamin B6, 0.71 (0.51 to 0.99) for vitamin B12, 0.72 (0.52 to 1.00) for folate, 0.74 (0.53 to 1.04) for methionine and 0.78 (0.56 to 1.08) for vitamin B2. This was an observational study of food intake, not a trial of supplements.
What the study can and cannot show
Diet was measured with a web-based 24-hour recall tool, which asks people to remember a single day of eating. MASLD was inferred from a fatty liver index rather than confirmed by scan or biopsy. The design is observational, so the authors describe associations rather than cause and effect, and people who eat more of these nutrients from food differ from those who eat less in ways that also affect the liver. Two of the five confidence intervals cross 1.00 and a third touches it, meaning the results for methionine and vitamin B2 in particular are compatible with no effect at all. The paper measured nutrients from diet and did not test supplementation.
What this means for your supplement routine
Very little, and that is the honest answer. A cohort study of this kind is good at generating questions and poor at answering the one most readers have, which is whether to change what is in the cupboard. The researchers reported what participants ate, in a population recruited largely in middle age, and framed the finding as an association. It does not establish that any supplement affects liver outcomes, and it is not a reason to start, stop or alter anything. Anyone with a diagnosed liver condition, or on medication, should take that conversation to their GP rather than to a product label.
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This article reports published news and research and is for information only. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied diet or medical care, and no product mentioned is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Speak to your GP or pharmacist before changing what you take, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or taking prescribed medicines.
Sources
- Dietary one-carbon metabolism nutrients and risk of MASLD progression: a prospective cohort study (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 3 September 2026)
- CrossRef record for DOI 10.1038/s41430-026-01805-3, confirming journal and publication date
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (NHS, background on the condition)