Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population data

Abstract Dietary factors have recently been recognized as potentially influential in the pathogenesis of endometriosis (EM), yet studies on the causal relationship between dietary preferences and EM are limited. The present study aimed to explore the causal relationships between 187 dietary preferen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xin Cheng, Dan Ma, Xiuhong Wang, Meiling Li, Jinpeng Jiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86707-3
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832585893074960384
author Xin Cheng
Dan Ma
Xiuhong Wang
Meiling Li
Jinpeng Jiang
author_facet Xin Cheng
Dan Ma
Xiuhong Wang
Meiling Li
Jinpeng Jiang
author_sort Xin Cheng
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Dietary factors have recently been recognized as potentially influential in the pathogenesis of endometriosis (EM), yet studies on the causal relationship between dietary preferences and EM are limited. The present study aimed to explore the causal relationships between 187 dietary preferences and EM using Mendelian randomization (MR) methods. This study utilised genome-wide association study data from over 500,000 European participants for dietary preferences and 64,658 EM patients from Finland. Dietary preferences with potential causal relationships to EM were identified using two-sample MR methods. P-values from the inverse variance weighted (IVW) analysis were corrected using the false discovery rate (FDR) method to ensure accuracy. Additionally, heterogeneity analysis, pleiotropy assessment, leave-one-out analysis, and reverse MR analysis were conducted to further validate and solidify the findings of the study. After FDR correction, IVW analysis revealed that asparagus preference was significantly protective against EM, including in American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) stages 1–2 and 3–4. Conversely, preferences for different types of coffee and orange juice were associated with an increased likelihood of EM across these stages. Subgroup analysis indicated that asparagus preference had a protective effect against deep EM, ovarian EM, pelvic peritoneal EM, and rectovaginal septum and vaginal EM. In contrast, coffee preference increased the risk of pelvic peritoneal EM, fallopian tube EM, and unspecified EM, whereas orange juice preference increased the risk of deep EM, rectovaginal septum and vaginal EM, pelvic peritoneal EM, and unspecified EM. Reverse MR analysis did not identify causal relationships between EM and the specific dietary preferences that were analysed in this study. These findings suggest that asparagus preference significantly reduces the risk of developing EM, whereas preferences for orange juice and different types of coffee may increase the risk, offering new insights into EM management through dietary modifications.
format Article
id doaj-art-0bee48b188fa4cc0ba510c1f0dfa5719
institution Kabale University
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-0bee48b188fa4cc0ba510c1f0dfa57192025-01-26T12:24:22ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-01-0115111210.1038/s41598-025-86707-3Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population dataXin Cheng0Dan Ma1Xiuhong Wang2Meiling Li3Jinpeng Jiang4Department of Gynaecology, Xianning Central Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Gynaecology, Xianning Central Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Gynaecology, Xianning Central Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Gynaecology, Xianning Central Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Gynaecology, Xianning Central Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Science and TechnologyAbstract Dietary factors have recently been recognized as potentially influential in the pathogenesis of endometriosis (EM), yet studies on the causal relationship between dietary preferences and EM are limited. The present study aimed to explore the causal relationships between 187 dietary preferences and EM using Mendelian randomization (MR) methods. This study utilised genome-wide association study data from over 500,000 European participants for dietary preferences and 64,658 EM patients from Finland. Dietary preferences with potential causal relationships to EM were identified using two-sample MR methods. P-values from the inverse variance weighted (IVW) analysis were corrected using the false discovery rate (FDR) method to ensure accuracy. Additionally, heterogeneity analysis, pleiotropy assessment, leave-one-out analysis, and reverse MR analysis were conducted to further validate and solidify the findings of the study. After FDR correction, IVW analysis revealed that asparagus preference was significantly protective against EM, including in American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) stages 1–2 and 3–4. Conversely, preferences for different types of coffee and orange juice were associated with an increased likelihood of EM across these stages. Subgroup analysis indicated that asparagus preference had a protective effect against deep EM, ovarian EM, pelvic peritoneal EM, and rectovaginal septum and vaginal EM. In contrast, coffee preference increased the risk of pelvic peritoneal EM, fallopian tube EM, and unspecified EM, whereas orange juice preference increased the risk of deep EM, rectovaginal septum and vaginal EM, pelvic peritoneal EM, and unspecified EM. Reverse MR analysis did not identify causal relationships between EM and the specific dietary preferences that were analysed in this study. These findings suggest that asparagus preference significantly reduces the risk of developing EM, whereas preferences for orange juice and different types of coffee may increase the risk, offering new insights into EM management through dietary modifications.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86707-3EndometriosisDietaryMendelian randomizationAsparagusCoffeeOrange juice
spellingShingle Xin Cheng
Dan Ma
Xiuhong Wang
Meiling Li
Jinpeng Jiang
Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population data
Scientific Reports
Endometriosis
Dietary
Mendelian randomization
Asparagus
Coffee
Orange juice
title Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population data
title_full Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population data
title_fullStr Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population data
title_full_unstemmed Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population data
title_short Causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large-scale population data
title_sort causal analysis of dietary preferences and the risk of endometriosis using large scale population data
topic Endometriosis
Dietary
Mendelian randomization
Asparagus
Coffee
Orange juice
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86707-3
work_keys_str_mv AT xincheng causalanalysisofdietarypreferencesandtheriskofendometriosisusinglargescalepopulationdata
AT danma causalanalysisofdietarypreferencesandtheriskofendometriosisusinglargescalepopulationdata
AT xiuhongwang causalanalysisofdietarypreferencesandtheriskofendometriosisusinglargescalepopulationdata
AT meilingli causalanalysisofdietarypreferencesandtheriskofendometriosisusinglargescalepopulationdata
AT jinpengjiang causalanalysisofdietarypreferencesandtheriskofendometriosisusinglargescalepopulationdata