AUTHOR=Zhang Hongjie , Jiang Xuan , Bai Lei , Chen Jiahui , Luo Wei , Ma Jianxiong , Ma Xinlong 

TITLE=Vitamin C intake and osteoarthritis: findings of NHANES 2003–2018 and Mendelian randomization study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1409578

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2024.1409578

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>The role of vitamin C in osteoarthritis (OA) is still a subject of debate. Our aim was to combine the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and MR studies to explore the relationship between vitamin C intake and OA.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods</title><p>Clinical information on participants during NHANES 2003–2018 was collected and the relationship between vitamin C intake and OA risk was assessed using logistic regression modelling. In MR analyses, three methods were used to explore the causality of vitamin C intake with OA. Sensitivity analysis to verify the stability of the MR study.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>The cross-sectional study included a total of 31,527 participants, categorizing them into low (&lt;30.2 mg), medium (30.2–93.0 mg) and high (&gt;93.0 mg) level groups based on their vitamin C intake levels. Logistic regression models showed that vitamin C intake was not associated with OA risk (<italic>p</italic> &gt; 0.05). Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method of MR study showed no causality between vitamin C intake and OA (OR = 0.993, 95% CI: 0.901 ~ 1.095, <italic>p</italic> = 0.882). Sensitivity analysis indicated that the MR study was reliable.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Our cross-sectional and MR studies showed that vitamin C intake was not associated with OA risk. More researches are needed in the future to investigate the link between vitamin C and OA.</p></sec>