Meal Frequencies Modify the Effect of Common Genetic Variants on Body Mass Index in Adolescents of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Recent studies suggest that meal frequencies influence the risk of obesity in children and adolescents. It has also been shown that multiple genetic loci predispose to obesity already in youth. However, it is unknown whether meal frequencies could modulate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the risk of obesity. We examined the effect of two meal patterns on weekdays –5 meals including breakfast (regular) and ≤4 meals with or without breakfast (meal skipping) – on the genetic susceptibility to increased body mass index (BMI) in Finnish adolescents. Eight variants representing 8 early-life obesity-susceptibility loci, including FTO and MC4R, were genotyped in 2215 boys and 2449 girls aged 16 years from the population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. A genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated for each individual by summing the number of BMI-increasing alleles across the 8 loci. Weight and height were measured and dietary data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Among meal skippers, the difference in BMI between high-GRS and low-GRS (<8 and ≥8 BMI-increasing alleles) groups was 0.90 (95% CI 0.63,1.17) kg/m2, whereas in regular eaters, this difference was 0.32 (95% CI 0.06,0.57) kg/m2 (pinteraction = 0.003). The effect of each MC4R rs17782313 risk allele on BMI in meal skippers (0.47 [95% CI 0.22,0.73] kg/m2) was nearly three-fold compared with regular eaters (0.18 [95% CI -0.06,0.41] kg/m2) (pinteraction = 0.016). Further, the per-allele effect of the FTO rs1421085 was 0.24 (95% CI 0.05,0.42) kg/m2 in regular eaters and 0.46 (95% CI 0.27,0.66) kg/m2 in meal skippers but the interaction between FTO genotype and meal frequencies on BMI was significant only in boys (pinteraction = 0.015). In summary, the regular five-meal pattern attenuated the increasing effect of common SNPs on BMI in adolescents. Considering the epidemic of obesity in youth, the promotion of regular eating may have substantial public health implications.
Date Issued
2013-09-10
Date Acceptance
2013-07-24
Citation
PLOS One, 2013, 8 (9)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Journal / Book Title
PLOS One
Volume
8
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
© 2013 Jääskeläinen et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Sponsor
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000327538600045&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
G1002084
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES
WEIGHT-CONTROL BEHAVIORS
GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION
CHILDHOOD OBESITY
DIETARY-INTAKE
BREAKFAST CONSUMPTION
EATING PATTERNS
ADULT OBESITY
FAT MASS
CHILDREN
RISK
Adolescent
Alleles
Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO
Body Mass Index
Cohort Studies
Feeding Behavior
Female
Finland
Gene Frequency
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Genotype
Humans
Male
Meals
Obesity
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Population Surveillance
Proteins
Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 4
Risk Factors
Sex Factors
General Science & Technology
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e73802