Protective effects of cheese consumption on common chronic inflammatory skin diseases: A two-sample bidirectional mendelian randomization study

The association between cheese consumption and chronic inflammatory skin conditions remains unclear. We used a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) framework to investigate the genetic causality between cheese consumption and atopic dermatitis (AD), eczema, and psoriasis. Inverse variance weighted (IVW) methods were employed for main analysis, other five approaches were employed for secondary analysis. Subsequently, replication analyses and a series of sensitivity analyses were conducted. MR analysis identified a negative genetic causal relationship between cheese consumption to AD (OR: 0.032 [0.001–0.888], P = 0.042) and psoriasis (OR: 0.007 [0.000–0.652], P = 0.032), but not to eczema ( P > 0.05). Reverse analysis showed that chronic inflammatory skin diseases did not influence cheese consumption (P > 0.05). Replication analyses and sensitivity analyses also support the primary findings. These findings suggest cheese consumption may exert significant genetic protective effects for AD and psoriasis. Our study advances understanding of cheese's role in skin health and nutrition. • Cheese consumption showed genetic protection against AD and psoriasis. • No causal link was found between cheese intake and eczema risk. • Reverse MR showed skin diseases did not affect cheese consumption. • Findings support dietary interventions for inflammatory skin disorders.