Diao Zhuo, Peng Guangyin, Chen Yige, Wang Jun, Liu Jianjun, Zhang Zhaopeng, Zhang Wei
Department of Gastroenterology, Hanzhong Central Hospital, Hanzhong City, 723000, China.
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hanzhong Central Hospital, Hanzhong City, 723000, China.
Nutr Metab (Lond). 2025 May 22;22(1):49. doi: 10.1186/s12986-025-00940-1.
There is an ongoing debate about how micronutrients influence the risk of developing esophageal cancer (EC), requiring more definitive proof to ascertain their causal relationship.
The current study seeks to identify the causal relationship between 14 micronutrients and EC through Mendelian randomization (MR) methods.
We performed a two-sample MR analysis of micronutrients in relation to EC, using five different MR methodologies, chief among them the Inverse Variance Weighted method. To ascertain the direction of causal links, Steiger filtering was applied. The study culminated in a sensitivity analysis to test the robustness of the results.
In the European population, iron (OR = 0.231, 95% CI: 0.073-0.727, P = 0.012) and magnesium (OR = 0.357, 95% CI: 0.143-0.894, P = 0.028) were associated with a reduced risk of EC, both showing suggestive evidence of a causal relationship. In Asian populations, however, no significant causal effects were found between the 14 micronutrients and EC. The direction of causality was validated across all results.
Among European populations, iron and magnesium intake is associated with a reduced risk of EC, a benefit not seen in Asian populations. Personalized strategies and region-specific advice are necessary for EC prevention and control.
关于微量营养素如何影响食管癌（EC）发生风险的争论一直存在，需要更确凿的证据来确定它们之间的因果关系。
本研究旨在通过孟德尔随机化（MR）方法确定14种微量营养素与EC之间的因果关系。
我们使用五种不同的MR方法，其中主要是逆方差加权法，对微量营养素与EC进行了两样本MR分析。为了确定因果关系的方向，应用了Steiger过滤法。该研究最终进行了敏感性分析以检验结果的稳健性。
在欧洲人群中，铁（OR = 0.231，95%CI：0.073 - 0.727，P = 0.012）和镁（OR = 0.357，95%CI：0.143 - 0.894，P = 0.028）与EC风险降低相关，均显示出因果关系的提示性证据。然而，在亚洲人群中，未发现14种微量营养素与EC之间存在显著的因果效应。所有结果中因果关系的方向均得到验证。
在欧洲人群中，铁和镁的摄入与EC风险降低相关，而在亚洲人群中未观察到这种益处。对于EC的预防和控制，个性化策略和针对特定地区的建议是必要的。
