Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide, affecting approximately 20–25 % of the global adult population [1]. Epidemiological evidence showed that, in addition to overweight and obesity, remnant cholesterol (RC) is the most important modifiable risk factor for the onset of NAFLD, and it has been confirmed to be a pathogenic factor in several studies [2,3]. RC can be described as the remaining fraction of cholesterol in addition to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) [4].