Compared with the healthy participants, the serum concentrations of total iron (P < 0.001), Cav-1 (P < 0.01), ferritin (P < 0.01), and Tf (P < 0.001) were up-regulated in the patients with NAFLD; however, the concentration of hepcidin (P = 0.0598) was not significantly increased (Fig. 7a). This evidence concerns the gene CAV1 and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.