In this meta-analysis, we found that the HSD17B13 rs72613567:TA allelic variant can provide protection from NAFLD not only in entire population (TA vs T OR = 0.669, 95% CI = 0.524–0.856, P = 0.001) but also in healthy people (TA vs T OR = 0.600, 95% CI = 0.464–0.777, P = 0.000). Here, HSD17B13 is linked to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.