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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1468457
This article is part of the Research Topic Nutritional Factors in the Development and Prognosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) View all 6 articles

Exploring genetic structures and shared sites between alcohol, cheese intake, and inflammatory bowel disease

Provisionally accepted
Zhifang Huang Zhifang Huang 1Weichao Yuan Weichao Yuan 2*
  • 1 Jiangmen Wuyi Tranditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, China
  • 2 Jiujiang University Affiliated Hospital, Jiujiang, China

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

    Abstract Background: An association has been observed between alcohol and cheese intake and the onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), necessitating further exploration from a genetic structural perspective. Methods: The present analysis was focused on the intake of alcohol and cheese in conjunction with IBD genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, with the objective of exploring genetic correlations and identifying common loci. Initially, overall genetic correlations were assessed employing two methodologies: linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) and genetic covariance analyzer (GNOVA). Subsequently, local correlations were examined through the SUPERGNOVA method. A genetic overlap analysis between various traits was then conducted based on the statistical theory of conditional/conjunctional false discovery rate (cond/conjFDR). Ultimately, shared loci between the two traits were identified via conjFDR analysis and multi-trait analysis of GWAS (MTAG). Results: Substantial overall correlations were noted at the genome-wide level between alcohol and cheese intake and both IBD and Crohn’s disease (CD), whereas the association with ulcerative colitis (UC) was of lesser significance. In the local genetic analysis, chromosome 16 emerged as a key region implicated in the relationship between alcohol and cheese intake and IBD (including both CD and UC). The conjFDR analysis confirmed the genetic overlap between the two diseases. Furthermore, both conjFDR and MTAG analyses identified multiple shared genetic loci, with nine genes (Y_RNA, DENND1B, GCKR, KPNA7, CLN3, SLC39A8, FUT2, ERAP2, and SMAD3) being Conclusion: The present study provides genetic evidence supporting the comorbidity of alcohol and cheese intake with IBD, offering novel insights into potential strategies for the prevention and treatment of IBD through the modulation of alcohol and cheese consumption.

    Keywords: Genetic Structures, Shared sites, alcohol intake, cheese intake, inflammatory bowel disease

    Received: 22 Jul 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Huang and Yuan. 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: Weichao Yuan, Jiujiang University Affiliated Hospital, Jiujiang, China

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