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. 2024 Apr 29:11:1373850.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1373850. eCollection 2024.

The role of dietary preferences in osteoarthritis: a Mendelian randomization study using genome-wide association analysis data from the UK Biobank

Long Chen  1 , Yiqi Su  1 , Hui Li  1 , Zhen Yang  1 , Jiao Jiao Li  2 , Dan Xing  1
Affiliations

The role of dietary preferences in osteoarthritis: a Mendelian randomization study using genome-wide association analysis data from the UK Biobank

Long Chen et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: To understand the impact of individual preferences for specific dietary items on OA, and to help inform the development of effective and targeted OA prevention and management strategies, we performed a Mendelian randomization analysis between dietary preferences and osteoarthritis.

Methods: This study utilized genetic data from the UK Biobank to investigate the association between OA and 21 different common dietary items. Instrumental variables representing European populations were carefully selected based on their genetic significance and linkage disequilibrium. In cases where a dietary item had few relevant genetic markers, a more lenient selection threshold was applied. To prevent bias, the analysis excluded single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with factors such as body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol. Using inverse-variance weighting (IVW) and Mendelian randomization, significant associations were detected between certain dietary items and OA.

Results: Using Mendelian randomization to examine the relationship between 21 different dietary items and OA, significant associations were found for coffee, peas, watercress, and cheese, where the first two had a promoting effect and the last two an inhibiting effect on OA. Due to heterogeneity in the test results for cheese, a random IVW representation was used. The results of sensitivity analysis showed no significant heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy in the selected SNPS, demonstrating the reliability of Mendelian randomization analysis.

Conclusion: This study identified coffee, peas, watercress, and cheese as food items that may have significant dietary effects on osteoarthritis. This information may be useful to consider in the development of OA management strategies.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization; SNP; causality; dietary preferences; osteoarthritis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The results of Mendelian randomization analysis of statistically significant dietary preferences were screened, and the results were displayed using forest maps. The term ‘pval’ refers to the p-value obtained from the corresponding Mendelian randomization analysis method. The 95% Odds Ratio (OR) refers to the range of values within which we are 95% confident that the true OR lies, indicating the strength of association between a genetic variant and a health outcome.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scatter plot. Each point on the graph represents an IV, and the lines at each point represent the 95% confidence interval, with the horizontal coordinate showing the SNP effect on diet, the vertical coordinate showing the SNP effect on OA, and the colored lines showing the MR Fit. (A) Coffee intake (B) Cheese intake (C) Pea intake (D) Watercress intake.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Funnel diagram. The points on the graph reflect the overall distribution of the selected IV. (A) Coffee intake, (B) cheese intake, (C) pea intake, (D) watercress intake.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Leave-one-out plot. The Mendelian effect after removing every instrumental variable. (A) Coffee intake, (B) cheese intake, (C) pea intake, (D) watercress intake.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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