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Causal association between dietary factors and chronic kidney disease: a Mendelian randomisation study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2025

Ya’nan Huang
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Shaoxing People’s Hospital (Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University), Shaoxing 312000, People’s Republic of China
Wei Tang
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Shaoxing People’s Hospital (Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University), Shaoxing 312000, People’s Republic of China
Jianfeng Yang
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Shaoxing People’s Hospital (Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University), Shaoxing 312000, People’s Republic of China
Zhenhua Zhao*
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Shaoxing People’s Hospital (Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University), Shaoxing 312000, People’s Republic of China Department of Radiology, Shaoxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Shaoxing 312000, People’s Republic of China
*
Corresponding author: Zhenhua Zhao; Email: zhao2075@163.com
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Abstract

Dietary intervention is a key strategy for preventing and managing chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, evidence on specific foods’ effects on CKD is limited. This study aims to clarify the impact of various foods on CKD risk. We used two-sample Mendelian randomisation to analyse the causal relationships between the intake of eighteen foods (e.g., cheese, processed meat, poultry, beef and non-oily fish) and CKD risk, as well as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)cr and eGFRcys levels. The inverse variance weighting method, weighted median method, MR-Egger regression, simple mode and weighted mode were employed. The sensitivity analysis included Cochran’s Q test and the Egger intercept test. According to the main method, the IVM results indicated that frequent alcohol intake was linked to higher CKD risk (P= 0·007, 0·048). Protective factors included cheese (OR = 0·71, (95 % CI: 0·53, 0·94), P= 0·017), tea (OR = 0·66, (95 % CI: 0·43, 1·00), P= 0·048) and dried fruit (OR = 0·78, (95 % CI: 0·63, 0·98), P= 0·033). Oily fish (β = 0·051, (95 % CI: 0·001, 0·102), P= 0·046) and dried fruit (β = 0·082, (95 % CI: 0·016, 0·149), P= 0·014) were associated with elevated eGFRcys. Salad/raw vegetables (β = 0·024, (95 % CI: 0·003, 0·045), P= 0·028) and dried fruit (β = 0·013, (95 % CI: 0·001, 0·031), P= 0·014) were linked to higher eGFRcr, while cereal intake (β = –0·021, (95 % CI: −0·033, −0·010), P < 0·001) was associated with lower eGFRcr. These findings provide insights for optimising dietary strategies for CKD patients.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society
Figure 0

Figure 1. Flow chart for two Mendelian randomisation (MR) study for dietary factors and chronic kidney disease and kidney function. The three assumptions of the MR study (created by Figdraw).

Figure 1

Table 1. Exposure and outcome phenotypic data

Figure 2

Figure 2. Risk/protective factor analysis of dietary intake based on IVW method: (a) Heat map of the correlation between dietary factors and eGFRcr, eGFRcys or CKD (*, P< 0·05); (b) MR analysis of risk/protective factors associated with eGFRcr, eGFRcys and CKD, along with the results of sensitivity analyses. CKD, chronic kidney disease; IVM, inverse variance weighting; MR, Mendelian randomisation.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Scatter plots of MR analysis of dietary factors significantly associated with eGFRcr, eGFRcys or CKD (based on IVW, MR Egger, weighted median, simple mode and weighted mode). CKD, chronic kidney disease; IVM, inverse variance weighting; MR, Mendelian randomisation.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Leave-one-out sensitivity analysis of dietary factors significantly associated with eGFRcr, eGFRcys or CKD. (Each line represents the estimated effect value and its CI after excluding a specific SNP. The ‘ALL’ in the bottom row reflects the combined estimated effect value and CI, considering all SNP.). CKD, chronic kidney disease.

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