Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization study

Background and aims: Susceptibility to cardiovascular disease (CVD) is driven by genetic and environmental risk factors. Diet is a modifiable and largely environmental risk factor for CVD. Genetic factors associated with a variety of dietary preferences revealed via recent genome-wide association st...

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Main Authors: Mia D. Lee, Benjamin F. Voight
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Atherosclerosis Plus
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667089525000094
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author Mia D. Lee
Benjamin F. Voight
author_facet Mia D. Lee
Benjamin F. Voight
author_sort Mia D. Lee
collection DOAJ
description Background and aims: Susceptibility to cardiovascular disease (CVD) is driven by genetic and environmental risk factors. Diet is a modifiable and largely environmental risk factor for CVD. Genetic factors associated with a variety of dietary preferences revealed via recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) allow further investigate the role of diet in liability to disease that has been limited to observational and epidemiologic studies with mixed findings. Method: We obtained publicly available genome-wide association data for 38 dietary preference traits and seven common CVDs to investigate causal hypotheses between diet as the exposure to CVD as outcomes using the statistical framework of Mendelian randomization (MR) for hypothesis testing and sensitivity analyses. We also conducted mediation analyses to evaluate the effects of dietary preferences on CVDs to elucidate potential causal graphs and estimate the effects of dietary preferences mediated by potential mediators. Results: Across all methods, we identified 10 significant causal effects, which included eight dietary preferences across three CVD endpoints (Bonferroni-corrected P < 1.88 × 10−4). In sensitivity MR and mediation analysis, we observed that obesity - quantified by body mass index (BMI) - was a common mediator that contributed to many of these observed effects. We also found that educational attainment was an exclusive, additional mediator for the effect of preference for muesli with risk to peripheral artery disease (PAD). Conclusions: Our results provide genetic evidence for a link between diet and CVD that aligns with obesity-mediated risk of CVD in individuals in relation to their specific preferences for food.
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spelling doaj-art-acb072fd307d4385bd7a1cc3cfd293172025-08-20T03:53:52ZengElsevierAtherosclerosis Plus2667-08952025-06-0160435010.1016/j.athplu.2025.04.002Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization studyMia D. Lee0Benjamin F. Voight1Pharmacology Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania – Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USADepartment of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania – Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania – Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania – Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia PA, USA; Corresponding author. University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Smilow Center for Translational Research, Room 10-126, 3400, Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.Background and aims: Susceptibility to cardiovascular disease (CVD) is driven by genetic and environmental risk factors. Diet is a modifiable and largely environmental risk factor for CVD. Genetic factors associated with a variety of dietary preferences revealed via recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) allow further investigate the role of diet in liability to disease that has been limited to observational and epidemiologic studies with mixed findings. Method: We obtained publicly available genome-wide association data for 38 dietary preference traits and seven common CVDs to investigate causal hypotheses between diet as the exposure to CVD as outcomes using the statistical framework of Mendelian randomization (MR) for hypothesis testing and sensitivity analyses. We also conducted mediation analyses to evaluate the effects of dietary preferences on CVDs to elucidate potential causal graphs and estimate the effects of dietary preferences mediated by potential mediators. Results: Across all methods, we identified 10 significant causal effects, which included eight dietary preferences across three CVD endpoints (Bonferroni-corrected P < 1.88 × 10−4). In sensitivity MR and mediation analysis, we observed that obesity - quantified by body mass index (BMI) - was a common mediator that contributed to many of these observed effects. We also found that educational attainment was an exclusive, additional mediator for the effect of preference for muesli with risk to peripheral artery disease (PAD). Conclusions: Our results provide genetic evidence for a link between diet and CVD that aligns with obesity-mediated risk of CVD in individuals in relation to their specific preferences for food.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667089525000094Cardiovascular diseaseDietNutritionBody mass indexObesity
spellingShingle Mia D. Lee
Benjamin F. Voight
Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization study
Atherosclerosis Plus
Cardiovascular disease
Diet
Nutrition
Body mass index
Obesity
title Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization study
title_full Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization study
title_fullStr Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization study
title_full_unstemmed Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization study
title_short Association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease: a Mendelian randomization study
title_sort association of dietary preferences with cardiovascular disease a mendelian randomization study
topic Cardiovascular disease
Diet
Nutrition
Body mass index
Obesity
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667089525000094
work_keys_str_mv AT miadlee associationofdietarypreferenceswithcardiovasculardiseaseamendelianrandomizationstudy
AT benjaminfvoight associationofdietarypreferenceswithcardiovasculardiseaseamendelianrandomizationstudy