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Using genetic variation to disentangle the complex relationship between food intake and health outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Diet is considered as one of the most important modifiable factors influencing human health, but efforts to identify foods or dietary patterns associated with health outcomes often suffer from biases, confounding, and reverse causation. Applying Mendelian randomization in this context may provide evidence to strengthen causality in nutrition research. To this end, we first identified 283 genetic markers associated with dietary intake in 445,779 UK Biobank participants. We then converted these associations into direct genetic effects on food exposures by adjusting them for effects mediated via other traits. The SNPs which did not show evidence of mediation were then used for MR, assessing the association between genetically predicted food choices and other risk factors, health outcomes. We show that using all associated SNPs without omitting those which show evidence of mediation, leads to biases in downstream analyses (genetic correlations, causal inference), similar to those present in observational studies. However, MR analyses using SNPs which have only a direct effect on the exposure on food exposures provided unequivocal evidence of causal associations between specific eating patterns and obesity, blood lipid status, and several other risk factors and health outcomes.

SUBMITTER: Pirastu N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9162356 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Using genetic variation to disentangle the complex relationship between food intake and health outcomes.

Pirastu Nicola N McDonnell Ciara C Grzeszkowiak Eryk J EJ Mounier Ninon N Imamura Fumiaki F Merino Jordi J Day Felix R FR Zheng Jie J Taba Nele N Concas Maria Pina MP Repetto Linda L Kentistou Katherine A KA Robino Antonietta A Esko Tõnu T Joshi Peter K PK Fischer Krista K Ong Ken K KK Gaunt Tom R TR Kutalik Zoltán Z Perry John R B JRB Wilson James F JF

PLoS genetics 20220602 6

Diet is considered as one of the most important modifiable factors influencing human health, but efforts to identify foods or dietary patterns associated with health outcomes often suffer from biases, confounding, and reverse causation. Applying Mendelian randomization in this context may provide evidence to strengthen causality in nutrition research. To this end, we first identified 283 genetic markers associated with dietary intake in 445,779 UK Biobank participants. We then converted these as ...[more]

PMID: 35653391

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Project description:IntroductionStudies, exploring the effect of food insecurity on physical and mental health, have shown that food insecurity is associated with lower self-reports of physical and mental health. With the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity has increased leading to higher risks of poor mental health. Despite evidence of the negative implications of food insecurity on mental health, there is a paucity of research on these variables for adolescents specifically. The current evidence shows there is a gap in adolescent centred research linking mental health and food insecurity globally. Adolescence is a crucial period of development where habits, nutritional inadequacies linked to food insecurity and mental health problems formed due to these inadequacies can be conveyed into adulthood. The aim of this study is to systematically scope the literature exploring the relationship between mental health, food (in)security and/or diet intake of adolescents.MethodsThis review will be guided by Arksey and O'Malley's extended framework. The search strategy was developed by two of the authors and will be used to search literature from January 2012 to December 2022 in PubMed, Academic search complete, PsychARTICLES, Google, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of science core collection. Searching published and unpublished literature will be done in the chosen databases. References used in included literature will be reviewed for additional studies/sources. Articles will be assessed for eligibility by two reviewers, and any discrepancies reviewed by a third reviewer. The inclusion and exclusion criteria will be used for screening. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flow diagram will be used to document the selection process. A narrative summary and descriptive analysis will be used to summarise and report the extracted data.Ethics and disseminationApproval for this study has been granted by the University of the Western Cape Biomedical Research Ethics Committee (BM21/8/3). Strict measures will be followed to ensure methodological rigour.

Project description:ObjectiveOur knowledge of associations between specific types of food and mental health problems in preschool children, an important developmental period, remains scarce. Using a large sample size and a brief measure, we aimed to examine associations between food groups and mental health problems in preschoolers.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 19,548 preschoolers in nine counties in China using a two-stage cluster sampling method. Information on food frequencies, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep conditions was collected by a parent-reported questionnaire. Mental health status was assessed by a parent-reported Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ). Height and weight were measured, and BMI was calculated. Relationships between specific types of food groups and mental health status were examined using multivariable regression modeling.ResultsOf the present study sample, 47.45% of children were girls. Boys had higher scores relating to total difficulties, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer problems than girls but lower scores in emotional symptoms and prosocial behavior. Children with more types of food categories tended to get lower SDQ total scores even after adjusting for confounding variables (p < 0.0001). The subscale scores of SDQ varied depending on the types and numbers of food consumed. Notably, boys' mental health problems were more likely to be associated with their consumed food type. Processed meat frequency intake among boys and girls was positively related to prosocial behavior (Girls: pickled food: p = 0.003, fried food: p < 0.0001, barbecued food: p = 0.006, smoked food: p = 0.005; Boys: pickled food: p = 0.3, fried food: p < 0.0001, barbecued food: p = 0.006, smoked food: p = 0.005) and negatively associated with the SDQ total and the other subscale scores (Girls: pickled food: p ≤ 0.02, fried food: p ≤ 0.005 except for emotions (p = 0.1), barbecued food: p ≤ 0.047, smoked food: p ≤ 0.04 (except for emotions (p = 0.06) and conduct behaviors (p = 0.2)); Boys: pickled food: p < 0.01 except for hyperactivity (p = 0.5), fried food: p ≤ 0.005 except for emotions (p = 0.1), barbecued food: p ≤ 0.007 except for hyperactivity (p = 0.8), smoked food: p ≤ 0.001 except for hyperactivity (p = 0.1) and peer problem (p = 0.08)). Adequate intake frequency of confectionery (2-4 times/week) was beneficial to their emotions, conduct, and total difficulties and was also beneficial for peer and prosocial behavior for boys (Girls: emotions: p = 0.02, conduct: p = 0.02, hyperactivity: p = 0.4, peer: p = 0.06, total difficulties: p = 0.01, prosocial behavior: p = 0.1; Boys: emotions: p = 0.009, conduct: p = 0.0009, hyperactivity: p = 0.7, peer: p = 0.02: total difficulties: p = 0.003, prosocial behavior: p = 0.0002).ConclusionDiverse food categories and adequate frequency of confectionery were found to be beneficial for children's mental health, with the exception of processed meat. These findings provide novel information and supportive data for children's dietary guidelines and the improvement of mental health.

Dataset Information

Using genetic variation to disentangle the complex relationship between food intake and health outcomes.

Publications

Using genetic variation to disentangle the complex relationship between food intake and health outcomes.

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