Food intake influences the incidence of cardiovascular disease by driving cardiac remodeling - Evidence from a Mendelian randomization.

Background

research on dietary habits and cardiovascular diseases shows inconsistent results. Diets on cardiovascular diseases are primarily mediated by cardiac structure, but specific pathways remain unclear. Material and methods: we conducted a Mendelian randomization study and identified twelve types of food were related to coronary artery disease, 17 to heart failure, and 16 to dilated cardiomyopathy; 13 were associated with atrial fibrillation. We then identified cardiac structure closely related to the four cardiovascular diseases and conducted mediation analysis.

Results

increased consumption of grains, dried fruits, and cheese may tentatively reduce coronary heart disease risk through distinct biomechanical pathways-including reduced segmental longitudinal strain (grains, 18.7 %), decreased left ventricular stroke volume with narrowed ascending aortic area (dried fruits; mediation through 28.9 % and 18.5 % pathways), and attenuated myocardial wall thickness (cheese, 4.25 %)-while elevated alcohol intake might heighten risk via increased stroke volume (18.6 %), amplified segmental strain (8.6 %), and elevated cardiac workload. Exploratory analyses suggest coffee-associated heart failure risk could involve mediation by segmental/global circumferential strain (mediation through 14.5 % and 27.7 % pathways) and left ventricular volume (through 23.1 %, and 22.5 % pathways), whereas cooked vegetables may partially influence dilated cardiomyopathy risk through increased left ventricular mass (14.9 %) and myocardial wall thickness (20.2 %), potentially exacerbating atrial fibrillation via impaired global longitudinal strain (36.1 %). Observational data tentatively link feta cheese to dilated cardiomyopathy risk through altered left heart volumetric parameters: left atrial minimal volume (30.3 %), ventricular end-diastolic (14.8 %)/systolic volumes (14.8 %).

Conclusion

our study provides new insights that dietary adjustments to improve cardiac remodeling may be a potent strategy for the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases. However, the interpretation of the mediation results requires caution.