A Pilot Study of Diet and Gallstone Formation in Young Saudi Women

Abstract

The diet of 100 younger than 40 years Saudi females; 50 cases with gallstones and 50 control mean age and SD 30.2 (6.1) and 29.7 (6.4) years respectively, was studied by taking a qualitative dietary history.There was no significant difference between the dietary intake of the 2 groups with regard to cholesterol-rich food and animal fat-rich foods, high fibre foods and the consumption of fast food.However, dates, 'kabsah', 'modabi' and cheese were consumed significantly more by cases (P-value <.001, <.046, <.001 and <.004 respectively) and vegetable oil was used more by controls for cooking purposes (P-value <.05).

Exploration of the Causal Association Between Behavioral Risk Factors and Gallstone Disease Development in Two European Ancestry Populations

“…Our findings are contradicted by the findings of a similar Mendelian randomization study that assessed the development of gallstone disease according to the genetically predicted LDL, HDL, and TG utilizing the genome-wide association data from the UK Biobank and revealing no evidence of a causal relationship between the genetically predicted lipid profile and gallstone disease [ 21 ]. Similarly, another study assessed the risk of gallstone disease according to the genetically determined LDL levels via applying the Mendelian randomization method utilizing eight genetic variants associated with LDL among a Danish population (including 3323 subjects with gallstone disease) and revealed no causal association [ 25 ]. It is possible to argue that variation in the selection of variants associated with lipid profile parameters might affect the overall causal effect on gallstone disease development where a larger number of variants were utilized in our investigation in comparison to other similar studies.…”

“…Though there is limited evidence concerning the association between cheese consumption and gallstone development, an association between cheese consumption and the risk of gallstone disease has been indicated in an epidemiological observational investigation. Nonetheless, similar further Mendelian randomization investigations among other populations might be required to strengthen the evidence concerning the protective effect of cheese intake on the risk of developing gallstone disease [ 25 ].…”