Objective: This study aims to evaluate the causal effect of tofu consumption on the risk of Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: Tofu is a soy-derived food commonly consumed in East Asian populations. Some epidemiological studies have suggested possible associations between soy products and PD, but the causal relationship between tofu consumption and PD remains unclear.
Method: A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was conducted to evaluate the potential causal effect of tofu intake on PD risk in an Asian population. Genetic variants associated with tofu consumption were obtained from the BioBank Japan (BBJ) [1], and summary-level data for PD were derived from the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative (TPMI) project [2]. Independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) reaching genome-wide significance (P < 5e-08) were used as instrumental variables after linkage disequilibrium clumping (r2 < 0.01 within 10,000 kb). The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method served as the primary analysis, while weighted median, MR-Egger, and mode-based approaches were applied as complementary sensitivity analyses.
Results: The IVW analysis indicated no evidence of a causal association between genetically predicted tofu intake and PD risk (OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.65-1.15, P = 0.32). Consistent negative results were observed across the weighted median, MR-Egger, and mode-based methods, suggesting a lack of significant causal effect. No evidence of significant heterogeneity or horizontal pleiotropy was observed.
Conclusion: This MR study did not provide evidence supporting a causal relationship between tofu consumption and the risk of PD in the Asian population. Further studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to validate it.
Figure 1
References: 1. Matoba, N., et al., GWAS of 165,084 Japanese individuals identified nine loci associated with dietary habits. Nat Hum Behav, 2020. 4(3): p. 308-316.
2. Yang, H.C., et al., The Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative provides a cohort for large-scale studies. Nature, 2025. 648(8092): p. 117-127.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
X. Guo, R. Li. Investigating the Causal Relationship Between Tofu Intake and Parkinson’s Disease in the Asian Population Using Mendelian Randomization [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2026; 41 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/investigating-the-causal-relationship-between-tofu-intake-and-parkinsons-disease-in-the-asian-population-using-mendelian-randomization/. Accessed October 1, 2026.« Back to 2026 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/investigating-the-causal-relationship-between-tofu-intake-and-parkinsons-disease-in-the-asian-population-using-mendelian-randomization/