Li, Jixu, Qin, Qi, Zhu, Yiran et al. · Food science & nutrition · 2025 · DOI
This study explored whether diet, cholesterol levels, and immune cell changes might contribute to ME/CFS development. Researchers found that eating cheese and pork, and avoiding alcohol and spicy food, may protect against ME/CFS, possibly by improving cholesterol profiles. The study suggests that certain types of cholesterol and immune cell changes may influence ME/CFS risk, creating a potential chain linking food choices to immune health to fatigue development.
Understanding dietary and metabolic contributors to ME/CFS could inform preventive strategies and lifestyle modifications. This research bridges nutritional science and immunometabolism, offering potential therapeutic targets for patients seeking modifiable risk factors beyond medical interventions.
This genetic association study does not prove that changing diet will directly prevent or treat ME/CFS in individual patients, nor does it establish causation at the mechanistic level in human tissue. The findings represent population-level associations and require validation through prospective clinical trials before clinical recommendations can be made.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Li, Jixu, Qin, Qi, Zhu, Yiran, Qian, Yulu, Yin, Jialu, Gao, Xin, et al. (2025). Causal Relationship Between Diet, Lipids, Immune Cells, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Two-Mediation Mendelian Randomization Study.. Food science & nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.70424
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-li-2025-causal-relationship,
author = {Li, Jixu and Qin, Qi and Zhu, Yiran and Qian, Yulu and Yin, Jialu and Gao, Xin and Wen, Huijuan and Wang, Pei},
title = {Causal Relationship Between Diet, Lipids, Immune Cells, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Two-Mediation Mendelian Randomization Study.},
journal = {Food science & nutrition},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1002/fsn3.70424},
note = {PubMed: 40552329},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2025-causal-relationship},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2025-causal-relationship
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