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Genetic factors influence obesity risk from eating fried food
The risk for obesity may be higher among individuals with increased genetic risk who consume fried foods more than four times a week compared with those with lower genetic risk scores, according to recent study data.
"Our findings emphasize the importance of reducing fried food consumption in the prevention of obesity, particularly in individuals genetically predisposed to adiposity,” Lu Qi, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the department of nutrition at Harvard University, said in a press release.
Researchers analyzed data from 9,623 women aged 30 to 55 years from the Nurses’ Health Study, 6,379 men aged 40 to 75 years from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and a replication cohort of 21,421 women aged at least 45 years from the Women’s Genome Health Study. Information about medical history, lifestyle and health conditions were collected, and no participants had diabetes at baseline.
Participants answered questionnaires about the frequency of fried food consumption. Based on the results, researchers categorized frequency as less than once a week, once to three times a week and four or more times a week. BMI was measured repeatedly for each participant.
Researchers used a weighted scoring system to compute a genetic risk score for each participant by selecting 32 single nucleotide polymorphisms that represent 32 loci associated with BMI.
Analysis of the data demonstrated a relationship between genetic risk scores and total fried food consumption: Higher consumption increased the strength of the genetic risk. The OR for obesity per 10 risk alleles was 1.61 (95% CI, 1.4-1.87) for those who consumed fried food less than once a week; 2.12 (95% CI, 1.73-2.59) for those who consumed fried foods one to three times per week; and 2.72 (95% CI, 2.12-3.48) for those who consumed fried foods four or more times per week.
“Our findings suggest that consumption of fried food could interact with genetic background in relation to obesity, highlighting the particular importance of reducing fried food consumption in individuals genetically predisposed to obesity,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.