Association between Dietary Habits and Pancreatitis among Individuals of European Ancestry: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Abstract

Dietary factors are believed to potentially influence the risk of pancreatitis. Here, we systematically investigated the causal relationships between dietary habits and pancreatitis by using two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR). Large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for dietary habits were obtained from the UK Biobank. GWAS data for acute pancreatitis (AP), chronic pancreatitis (CP), alcohol-induced AP (AAP) and alcohol-induced CP (ACP) were from the FinnGen consortium. We performed univariable and multivariable MR analyses to evaluate the causal association between dietary habits and pancreatitis. Genetically driven alcohol drinking was associated with increased odds of AP, CP, AAP and ACP (all with p < 0.05). Genetic predisposition to higher dried fruit intake was associated with reduced risk of AP (OR = 0.280, p = 1.909 × 10−5) and CP (OR = 0.361, p = 0.009), while genetic predisposition to fresh fruit intake was associated with reduced risk of AP (OR = 0.448, p = 0.034) and ACP (OR = 0.262, p = 0.045). Genetically predicted higher consumption of pork (OR = 5.618, p = 0.022) or processed meat (OR = 2.771, p = 0.007) had a significant causal association with AP, and genetically predicted higher processed meat intake increased the risk of CP (OR = 2.463, p = 0.043). Our MR study showed that fruit intake may be protective against pancreatitis, whereas dietary intake of processed meat has potential adverse impacts. These findings may inform prevention strategies and interventions directed toward dietary habits and pancreatitis.

Impact of Geospatial Food Access on Acute Pancreatitis Outcomes

“…Inadequate access to nutritious food may contribute to malnutrition-an established risk factor for pancreatitis. 29 In other diseases, prior studies have also shown an association between poorer dietary choices with residence in "food swamps/deserts." 30, 31 Thus, environmentally-linked dietary patterns can be hypothesized to be associated with high consumption of saturated fats especially in the context of an inflammatory condition like AP.…”

SGLT2 inhibition, plasma proteins, and heart failure: a proteome-wide Mendelian Randomization and colocalization study

“…The strength of the IVs was assessed using the F-statistic. , n = sample size, the coefficient of determination (R 2 ) served as a metric to measure the proportion of variation explained by individual SNP, R 2 is calculated using the following formula ( 25 , 26 ): , where EAF denotes the effect allele frequency, β is the estimated genetic effect size of the SNP, n = sample size, and SE signifies the standard error of the genetic effect size. F-statistic below 10 was considered weak IVs, which might cause biased results and would be excluded.…”

Causal effects of dietary composition on multiple sclerosis risk and severity: a Mendelian randomization study

“…The genetic IVs that showed associations with the risk or severity of MS at a significance level below 5 × 10 −8 were excluded. We also assessed the IVs strength using the F -statistic ( F = β 2 /se 2 ) ( 27 ). We excluded SNPs with an F -statistic below 10, as they were considered weak IVs and could introduce bias into the analysis.…”