The controversy over the link between noodle consumption and metabolic syndrome (MetS) persists. Using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, we aimed to examine the potential causal relationship between noodle consumption and the risk of MetS and its components in adult populations of city hospital-based (n = 58,701) and Ansan/Ansung plus rural (AAR; n = 13,598) cohorts. The instrumental variables were assigned with genetic variants associated with low- and high-noodle intake (cutoff: 130 g/day) by a genome-wide association study (GWAS) with p < 5 × 10-5 and linkage disequilibrium (r2 = 0.001), following adjustment for covariates related to MetS, in the city cohort. MR-Egger, inverse-variance weighted (IVW), and weighted median were applied to investigate the causal association of noodle intake with MetS risk in the AAR. The quality of the MR results was checked with leave-one-out sensitivity and heterogeneity analyses. A higher energy intake with lower carbohydrates and higher fats, proteins, and higher sodium and a lower intake of calcium, vitamin D, vitamin C, and flavonoids were shown in the high-noodle group, indicating poor diet quality. The glycemic index and glycemic load of daily meals were much higher in the high-noodle intake group than in the low-noodle intake group. In the observational studies, not only the total noodle intake but also the different types of noodle intake were also positively associated with MetS risk. In the MR analysis, high-noodle intake elevated MetS, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and abdominal obesity in an IVW model (p < 0.05) but not the MR-Egger model. No single genetic variant among the instrumental variables changed their relationship in the leave-one-out sensitivity analysis. No likelihood of horizontal pleiotropy and heterogeneity was exhibited in the association between noodle intake and MetS. In conclusion, noddle intake had a positive causal association with MetS and its components in Asian adults.
Keywords: Mendelian randomization; diet quality; metabolic syndrome; noodle intake.