Ding Chen, Weng Shuwei
Department of Cardiology the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University Fuzhou City Fujian Province China.
Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Heart Disease of Fujian Province Fuzhou City Fujian Province China.
Food Sci Nutr. 2025 May 10;13(5):e70213. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.70213. eCollection 2025 May.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease globally, and diet plays a crucial role in its progression. While dietary fats impact NAFLD, the specific effect of cheese consumption remains unclear. This study employs a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to explore the causal relationship between cheese intake and NAFLD, liver fat content, and liver fat proportion. Using summary-level data from large genome-wide association studies, we applied a two-sample MR approach. Genetic variants linked to cheese consumption served as instrumental variables, selected under strict criteria, including genome-wide significance and exclusion of pleiotropy. Robustness was ensured through various MR methods, including Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) and MR-Egger. MR analysis indicated that increased cheese consumption is negatively associated with NAFLD risk (OR = 0.589, 95% CI: 0.387-0.896, = 0.014). This inverse relationship also extended to liver fat content (OR = 0.814, 95% CI: 0.689-0.960, = 0.015) and liver fat proportion (OR = 0.830, 95% CI: 0.695-0.992, = 0.04). No significant link was found between cheese intake and liver volume (OR = 0.976, 95% CI: 0.846-1.126, = 0.737). Cheese intake may have a protective effect against NAFLD, potentially informing dietary management strategies. Further research is needed to confirm these findings across diverse populations.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）是全球最常见的慢性肝病，饮食在其进展中起着至关重要的作用。虽然膳食脂肪会影响NAFLD，但食用奶酪的具体影响仍不清楚。本研究采用两样本孟德尔随机化（MR）方法，探讨奶酪摄入量与NAFLD、肝脏脂肪含量和肝脏脂肪比例之间的因果关系。利用来自大型全基因组关联研究的汇总水平数据，我们应用了两样本MR方法。与奶酪消费相关的基因变异用作工具变量，这些变量是在严格标准下选择的，包括全基因组显著性和多效性排除。通过各种MR方法确保稳健性，包括逆方差加权（IVW）和MR-Egger。MR分析表明，奶酪摄入量增加与NAFLD风险呈负相关（OR = 0.589，95%CI：0.387 - 0.896，P = 0.014）。这种反向关系也延伸至肝脏脂肪含量（OR = 0.814，95%CI：0.689 - 0.960，P = 0.015）和肝脏脂肪比例（OR = 0.830，95%CI：0.695 - 0.992，P = 0.04）。未发现奶酪摄入量与肝脏体积之间存在显著关联（OR = 0.976，95%CI：0.846 - 1.126，P = 0.737）。奶酪摄入可能对NAFLD具有保护作用，这可能为饮食管理策略提供参考。需要进一步研究以在不同人群中证实这些发现。
