Abstract
Background
Previous research has found that dietary factors are closely associated with the risk of hemorrhoids. Modifying dietary structure and offering evidence-based dietary guidance are crucial for preventing and managing hemorrhoids disease. Our study aims to investigate the causal effects of 17 dietary factors on the risk of hemorrhoids using a two-sample mendelian randomization (MR) approach.
Method
Genetic variants and instrumental variables for dietary factors (exposure datasets) were obtained from UK Biobank (UKB), and hemorrhoids (outcome datasets) related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were extracted from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI). Eligible SNPs were selected for subsequent MR analysis and the Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) method served as the primary analytical approach. Finally, we conducted sensitivity analyses and heterogeneity tests on the MR results
Result
Our findings indicated that vegetables (OR: 0.591, 95% CI: 0.428–0.817, p = 0.010) and fruits (OR: 0.764, 95% CI: 0.639–0.915, p = 0.005) intake has a protective effect, while alcohol intake (OR: 1.588, 95% CI: 1.246–2.024, p < 0.001), processed meat (OR: 1.307, 95% CI: 1.077–1.585, p = 0.007), oily fish (OR: 1.119, 95% CI: 1.014–1.235, p = 0.025), and cereal (OR: 1.209, 95% CI: 1.036–1.411, p = 0.016) intake have been identified as risk factors for hemorrhoids. Indeed, the causal relationships between above dietary factors and hemorrhoids were robust under the MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) test and heterogeneity test.
Conclusions
This study offers scientific dietary guidance for patients and aims to decrease the incidence of hemorrhoids by elucidating the specific effects of dietary factors.