# Causal Associations Between Dietary Factors and Uterine Inflammatory Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study

## TL;DR

This study found that eating more dried fruits and cereals may lower the risk of uterine inflammatory diseases, suggesting diet could help prevent these conditions.

## Contribution

The study identifies dried fruit and cereal consumption as potential causal protective factors against uterine inflammatory diseases using Mendelian randomization.

## Key findings

- Higher dried fruit intake was robustly associated with reduced risk of uterine inflammatory disease (IVW OR = 0.277, p = 1.72 × 10−5).
- Cereal intake showed a nominally protective effect (IVW OR = 0.446, p = 0.00488) but was not significant in weighted median analyses.
- No evidence of pleiotropy was found using MR-Egger analysis (p > 0.05).

## Abstract

Uterine inflammatory diseases, such as endometritis, are linked to infertility and adverse reproductive outcomes. We performed a two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study using genetic instruments for 19 dietary exposures (e.g., fruits, meats, cereals, beverages) from UK Biobank GWAS. The outcome was inflammatory uterine disease (ICD‐10: N71) from FinnGen. We applied inverse‐variance weighted (IVW) regression as the primary analysis, with sensitivity analyses (MR‐Egger, weighted median) and pleiotropy‐robust methods (MR‐PRESSO). Higher dried fruit intake showed a robust inverse association with uterine inflammatory disease (IVW OR = 0.277, 95% CI: 0.154–0.498; p = 1.72 × 10−5, FDR‐q = 3.27 × 10−4), supported by weighted median analysis. Cereal intake was nominally protective (IVW OR = 0.446, 95% CI: 0.255–0.783; p = 0.00488, FDR‐q = 0.0464) but not significant in weighted median analyses. No other dietary factors (alcohol, meat, fresh fruits) reached significance. MR‐Egger detected no pleiotropy (p > 0.05). This study predicted dried fruit consumption and cereal consumption may reduce uterine inflammatory disease risk, suggesting diet as a modifiable protective factor. Further studies should validate mechanisms.

This Mendelian randomization study investigated causal links between 19 dietary factors and uterine inflammatory diseases. Higher dried fruit intake showed a robust inverse association with reduced risk (IVW OR = 0.277, p = 1.72 × 10–5), while cereal intake was nominally protective. No other dietary factors reached significance, suggesting dried fruits and cereals as potential modifiable protective factors against uterine inflammation.