Relationships between circulating metabolites and facial skin aging: a Mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND: Blood metabolites are important to various aspects of our health. However, currently, there is little evidence about the role of circulating metabolites in the process of skin aging. OBJECTIVES: To examine the potential effects of circulating metabolites on the process of skin aging. METHOD: In the primary analyses, we applied several MR methods to study the associations between 249 metabolites and facial skin aging risk. In the secondary analyses, we replicated the analyses with another array of datasets including 123 metabolites. MR Bayesian model averaging (MR-BMA) method was further used to prioritize the metabolites for the identification of predominant metabolites that are associated with skin aging. RESULTS: In the primary analyses, only the unsaturation degree of fatty acids was found significantly associated with skin aging with the IVW method after multiple testing (odds ratio = 1.084, 95% confidence interval = 1.049–1.120, p = 1.737 × 10(−06)). Additionally, 11 out of 17 unsaturation-related biomarkers showed a significant or suggestively significant causal effect [p < 0.05 and > 2 × 10(−4) (0.05/249 metabolites)]. In the secondary analyses, seven metabolic biomarkers were found significantly associated with skin aging [p < 4 × 10(−4) (0.05/123)], while six of them were related to the unsaturation degree. MR-BMA method validated that the unsaturation degree of fatty acids plays a dominant role in facial skin aging. CONCLUSIONS: Our study used systemic MR analyses and provided a comprehensive atlas for the associations between circulating metabolites and the risk of facial skin aging. Genetically proxied unsaturation degree of fatty acids was highlighted as a dominant factor correlated with the risk of facial skin aging. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40246-023-00470-y.