Ultra-Processed Food Intake, Circulating NMR Metabolomic Signatures and Risk of Osteoarthritis in Women
Abstract
Purpose: Prospective evidence reporting statistical associations between ultra-processed food (UPF) intake and osteoarthritis (OA) risk in women is sparse, women suffer a disproportionately heavy OA burden with distinct metabolic and inflammatory characteristics, and the circulating biological correlates of UPF intake have not been integrated with OA risk in a unified analytical framework.
Patients and methods: In a prospective multi-omics analysis, we studied women without baseline OA, with NOVA-based UPF intake reconstructed from repeated Oxford WebQ 24-hour dietary records. Cox proportional hazards models (age as time scale) estimated hazard ratios (HRs) per 1-SD UPF increase and across quartiles, adjusting for ethnicity, education, income, smoking, alcohol, physical activity and total energy intake (Model 2); stabilised inverse probability weighting (IPW) addressed UPF availability. Nightingale NMR metabolomic and Olink proteomic features were screened sequentially (UPF-to-omics, omics-to-OA; FDR<0.05); candidate correlates were summarised by principal component analysis into a UPF-related omics signature. We performed two-stage correlational screening for omics markers rather than formal causal mediation analysis. Notably, 61.8% of the female cohort lacked valid UPF dietary records; stabilised inverse probability weighting (IPW) with dual trimming thresholds was applied to mitigate potential selection bias from missing dietary data.
Results: Among 13,122 women with UPF…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 13,122 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Promising Sources of Plant-Derived Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids: A Narrative Review
- Effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid intake in patients with chronic kidney disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
- Effect of omega-3 fatty acids on cognition: an updated systematic review of randomized clinical trials
- The role of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus: A narrative review
- Paucity of evidence for a relationship between long-chain omega-3 fatty acid intake and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review
- Omega-3 fatty acid nanocarriers: Characterization and potential applications
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.