Are lean individuals protected from NAFLD?

No, the occurrence of NAFLD in people with a normal BMI (18.5–24.9 kg/m2 or 18.5–22.9 kg/m2 in Asians), otherwise known as lean NAFLD, is more common than one might think. A meta-analysis of 93 studies published in 2020 reported that the prevalence of lean NAFLD in the global NAFLD population was about 19%.^[1]. Notably, the long-term prognosis does not seem to differ much between people with lean NAFLD and nonlean NAFLD.^[2]