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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1426763

Identifying Atheroprotective Fruits and Vegetables by Mendelian Randomization Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Shenji Yang Shenji Yang 1Zhikang Cao Zhikang Cao 1Huidong Liu Huidong Liu 2Zhipeng Li Zhipeng Li 1*Shaoping Nie Shaoping Nie 1MingYong Xie MingYong Xie 1
  • 1 Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
  • 2 Ganzhou People's Hospital, Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Fruits and vegetables (FVs) are widely believed to mitigate the risk of atherosclerosis (AS). However, the causal relationships between specific FVs and AS risk factors remain unclear. Methods: This study performed two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis to infer the causality of the intake of 28 kinds of FVs with AS, as well as its risk factors including blood low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG) and Creactive protein (CRP). GWAS genetic data for these exposures and outcomes were extracted from the IEU open GWAS project. Heterogeneity was evaluated using both Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) and MR-Egger methods. MR-Egger regression was specifically deployed to detect potential pleiotropy. Furthermore, a "leave-one-out" sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the impact of each individual single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on the combined outcome. Results: The analysis confirms a causal relationship between total fruit consumption and reduced levels of LDL-C (OR=0.911, p=0.007) and CRP (OR=0.868, p=0.008). Similarly, total vegetable intake is also causally associated with a reduction in CRP levels (OR=0.858, p=0.018). Specifically, garlic intake exhibits the most significant causal relationship with reduced risk of AS (OR=0.985, p=0.036) and also causally associated with lower levels of LDL-C and TG. Berry (OR=0.929, p=0.010) and potato (OR=0.957, p=0.020) intake both display a significant causal negative association with TG levels, while peach/nectarine consumption is significantly associated with reduced CRP levels (OR=0.913, p=0.010). Conclusion: This is the first MR study that systemically examined the causality between commonly consumed FVs and AS. Our findings highlight the atheroprotective effects of various FVs, particularly garlic, on cardiovascular health and the importance of tailored nutritional recommendations to prevent AS.

    Keywords: Fruits & vegetables, Atherosclerosis, Mendelian randomization, LDL-C & TG, C-Reactive Protein

    Received: 08 May 2024; Accepted: 27 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yang, Cao, Liu, Li, Nie and Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Zhipeng Li, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.