Background and Aims

Mediterranean diet (MD) has been associated with a better adult lipidemic profile. Research has focused on its combined effect with FTO variants on obesity-related phenotypes. The present analysis investigated the effect of FTO rs9939609 on lipidemic traits of overweight and obese Greek adults, as well as the role of MD as mediator.

Methods

We used the available genotyped and baseline data for lipid biomarkers (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides) of 75 overweight and obese adults from the Greek iMPROVE clinical trial. Adherence to MD was assessed via calculation of the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS)¹. Analyses were conducted using the SPSS software.

Results

Participants had a mean age of 45.8±11.4 years and a mean MDS of 30.9±3.7. There was a statistically significant difference in the triglyceride levels between carriers and non-carriers of the risk allele (A). Its presence was further associated with lower log-transformed triglyceride levels after adjusting for confounding factors (β=-0.154, p-value=0.003). When adherence to MD was lower the genetic effect was eliminated (p-value=0.406), whereas in the higher MDS group the effect was enhanced (β=-55.56, p-value=0.001).

Conclusions

These novel results suggest that the relation of the FTO rs9939609 variant with lower triglyceride levels depends on the dietary pattern; a lower adherence to MD outweighs the genetic predisposition.

REFERENCES

¹Panagiotakos D. et al. Adherence to the Mediterranean food pattern predicts the prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and obesity, among healthy adults; the accuracy of the MedDietScore. Prev Med. 2007 Apr;44(4):335-40. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.12.009.