Physical activity attenuates the body mass index-increasing influence of genetic variation in the FTO gene 1-3.

Vimaleswaran, K. S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8485-8930, Li, S., Zhao, J. H., Luan, J.'a., Bingham, S. A., Khaw, K.-T., Ekelund, U., Wareham, N. J. and Loos, R. J. F. (2009) Physical activity attenuates the body mass index-increasing influence of genetic variation in the FTO gene 1-3. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 90 (2). pp. 425-428. ISSN 1938-3207 doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27652

Abstract/Summary

BACKGROUND: Intronic variation in the FTO (fat mass and obesity-associated) gene has been unequivocally associated with increased body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2)) and the risk of obesity in populations of different ethnicity. OBJECTIVE: We examined whether this robust genetic predisposition to obesity can be attenuated by being more physically active. DESIGN: The FTO variant rs1121980 was genotyped in 20,374 participants (39-79 y of age) from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Norfolk Study, an ethnically homogeneous population-based cohort. Physical activity (PA) was assessed with a validated self-reported questionnaire. The interaction between rs1121980 and PA on BMI and waist circumference (WC) was examined by including the interaction term in mixed-effect models. RESULTS: We confirmed that the risk (T) allele of rs1121980 was significantly associated with BMI (0.31-unit increase per allele; P < 0.001) and WC (0.77-cm increase per allele; P < 0.001). The PA level attenuated the effect of rs1121980 on BMI and WC; ie, whereas in active individuals the risk allele increased BMI by 0.25 per allele, the increase in BMI was significantly (P for interaction = 0.004) more pronounced (76%) in inactive individuals (0.44 per risk allele). We observed similar effects for WC (P for interaction = 0.02): the risk allele increased WC by 1.04 cm per allele in inactive individuals but by only 0.64 cm in active individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that PA attenuates the effect of the FTO rs1121980 genotype on BMI and WC. This observation has important public health implications because we showed that a genetic susceptibility to obesity induced by FTO variation can be overcome, at least in part, by adopting a physically active lifestyle.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/34666
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research (ICMR) Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences > Human Nutrition Research Group
Publisher	American Society for Nutrition
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