Association between sugar-sweetened beverages and pure fruit juice with risk of six cardiovascular diseases: a Mendelian randomization study

In observational and prospective cohort studies, intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and pure fruit juice (PFJ) has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Still, the causality of the connection has not yet been determined. Our objective was to uncover the relationship between SSBs/PFJ and CVD.

Genetically predicted causal associations between SSBs/PFJ (obtained in a published genome-wide association study) and six common CVDs (atrial fibrillation (AF), angina, heart failure (HF), acute myocardial infarction, hypertension, and coronary atherosclerosis) were assessed using MR analytic modeling. The primary analysis method utilized was the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, complemented by additional methods such as the weighted median method, MR Egger regression, Cochran’s Q test, MR pleiotropy residual, funnel plot, Bonferroni correction, and others for MR analysis. To ensure the robustness of the findings, F-values were calculated as a complementary test to set looser thresholds for exposing genetic instrumental variables (P < 1e−5).

The results of MR analysis suggested genetically causal associations between SSBs and AF (odds ratio (OR): 1.023; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.007–1.038; P = 0.0039) as well as between PFJ and angina (OR: 0.968; 95% CI, 0.943–0.993; P = 0.0138) there was genetic causality. However, MR analysis showed no causal association between SSBs/PFJ and other CVD risks.

This study suggests that there may be a potential causal relationship between SSBs intake and AF and a causal negative association between PFJ intake and angina.