Causal Associations Between Dried Fruit Intake and Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease: A Mendelian Randomization and Network Pharmacology Study

This study conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) study of two samples to deeply explore the potential causal relationship between dried fruit intake and metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease and conduct corresponding network pharmacology analysis. IVW analysis results showed that dried fruit intake could prevent the risk of MASLD. The results of network pharmacology showed that the active components of dried fruit prevented and alleviated MASLD through the action of target genes, such as TNF, AKT1, and EGFR, on metabolism‐related signaling pathways. It was found that dried fruit can prevent and delay the progression of MASLD by improving the human body’s insulin resistance, lipid metabolism disorders, and other pathological mechanisms through a series of effective chemical components acting on metabolism‐related signaling pathways and core target genes in the human body.