Daily diet and structural damage of the knee joint:a large-scale genetic analysis based on UK and FinnGen databases

Yan Wenjian; Li Yinghui; Zhang Yong

doi:10.12307/2026.094

Abstract：BACKGROUND:Structural damage of the knee joint is a common musculoskeletal disorder,including meniscus injury and internal derangement of the knee,which severely impact the quality of life in athletes and elderly populations.Existing studies have shown that daily diet may influence the occurrence and progression of structural knee joint damage,but the causal relationship remains unclear. OBJECTIVE:To explore the causal relationship between daily diet and structural damage of the knee joint based on a genetic approach and to identify potential risk and protective factors. METHODS:Two-sample Mendelian randomization was conducted to explore the causal relationship between daily diet and structural damage of the knee joint.Outcome datasets for meniscus injury and internal derangement of the knee were obtained from the FinnGen database,while exposure datasets involving 20 dietary factors were derived from the OpenGWAS and GWAS Catalog databases.The inverse variance weighted method served as the primary analytical approach,supplemented by MR-Egger regression,weighted median,simple mode,and weighted mode method for validation.Sensitivity analyses were conducted to test the robustness of the results. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The inverse variance weighted method showed that 13 dietary factors were potentially causally associated with meniscus injury,while 12 dietary factors showed potential causal relationships with internal derangement of the knee.Notably,vegetable was a significant risk factor for meniscal injury(odds ratio[OR]=2.59,P＜0.001).Similarly,psychoactive drink was a significant risk factor for internal derangement of the knee(OR=1.26,P＜0.001).In contrast,fruit was a significant protective factor for internal derangement of the knee(OR=0.68,P＜0.001).Based on the large-scale European population data,these findings provide a potential causal relationship between dietary structure and knee joint damage,which may offer a useful reference for disease prevention and nutritional intervention strategies in China.