Association of childhood asthma with dietary intake, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants | Image courtesy of © Анна Ковальчук – © Анна Ковальчук – stock.adobe.com.
The researchers of the recently published study Frontier A causal relationship has been found between childhood asthma (CA) and dietary sugar and fat intake, as well as serum magnesium and vitamin D concentrations.
This chronic respiratory disease is increasing in incidence worldwide, affecting an estimated 300 million people, more than 25 million of whom are in the United States, including approximately 9 million affected children.The main risk factors for CA include exposure to air pollution and tobacco particles, but diet can also play a role in the onset and development of CA.
The research team, led by Liang Luo from the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Health, Leshan Vocational and Technical College, Leshan, Sichuan, China, noted that currently there is limited evidence evaluating the association between daily dietary intake, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins and the risk of CA. Investigating and understanding these incidental relationships with CA “will have important implications for the prevention and treatment of this disease,” the team wrote.
In this study, we investigated the associations of daily dietary intake, circulating serum levels of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins with CA using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, in which genetic variants are used as auxiliary variables (IVs) instead of correlated risk factors to assess the causal relationship between exposures and outcomes.
The researchers selected the following factors related to daily dietary intake:
– carbohydrates
– protein
– Fat
– Sugars
– Serum antioxidant levels (lycopene, uric acid, beta-carotene)
– Minerals (Calcium, Copper, Selenium, Zinc, Iron, Phosphorus, Magnesium)
– Vitamins (Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E)
Evaluation measures used included odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI), with statistical significance defined as P < 0.05.
The research team conducted MR analysis of different exposure-related events using publicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from FinnGen and GWAS Catalog databases. The team conducted a meta-analysis of MR results from different databases to provide a “comprehensive assessment of the association between each exposure and risk.”
Based on the MR analysis, the research team observed an inverse association between sugar intake and CA risk (OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.55-0.91). [P: 0.01]The following are positively correlated with an increased risk of CA:
– Serum circulating magnesium concentration (OR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.06–2.53; [P: 0.03])
– Fat (OR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.06–1.95, [P: 0.02])
– Serum vitamin D concentration (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.04–1.25, [P: 0.02])
The main findings suggested that increased sugar intake and decreased fat content in the diet may lead to a decreased risk of CA. MR analysis showed a significant correlation between elevated serum circulating magnesium and serum vitamin D levels and an increased risk of CA.
The study authors noted that these results are artifacts of MR analysis and may require further investigation to validate, which may provide further insight into the potential mechanisms linking dietary intake and trace elements to CA risk.
Overall, the study “strongly supports the associations between dietary intakes, micronutrients, and CA by integrating multiple databases,” the researchers wrote, adding, “However, there are inherent limitations, including population selection, explanatory power of IVs, and a paucity of studies on intake. These limitations highlight the need for further research.”
reference:
Luo L, Chen G, Zhou Y, Xiang Y, Peng J. Association of dietary intake, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and childhood asthma: a Mendelian randomization study. Front nut. 11:1401881. doi:10.3389/fnut.2024.1401881
