Diet: One size does not fit all

J Nutr. 2013 Dec;143(12):1865-71. doi: 10.3945/jn.113.179051. Epub 2013 Oct 9.

Apolipoprotein A2 polymorphism interacts with intakes of dairy foods to influence body weight in 2 U.S. populations.

Smith CE, Tucker KL, Arnett DK, Noel SE, Corella D, Borecki IB, Feitosa MF, Aslibekyan S, Parnell LD, Lai CQ, Lee YC, Ordovás JM.

Author information

• Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA; 4Department of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA; 5Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL; 6Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Unit and Center for Biomedical Research Network Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, School of Medicine, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain; 7Division of Statistical Genomics in the Center for Genome Sciences of the Washington University, St. Louis, MO; 8Department of Epidemiology, National Center of Cardiovascular Investigations, Madrid, Spain 9Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies-Food, Madrid, Spain.

Abstract

The interaction between a functional apolipoprotein A2 gene (APOA2) variant and saturated fatty acids (SFAs) for the outcome of body mass index (BMI) is among the most widely replicated gene-nutrient interactions. Whether this interaction can be extrapolated to food-based sources of SFAs, specifically dairy foods, is unexplored. Cross-sectional analyses were performed in 2 U.S. population-based samples. We evaluated interactions between dairy foods and APOA2 -265T > C (rs5082) for BMI in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (n = 955) and tested for replication in the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN) study (n = 1116). Dairy products were evaluated as total dairy, higher-fat dairy (>1%), and low-fat dairy (≤ 1%) in servings per day, dichotomized into high and low based on each population median and also as continuous variables. We identified a statistically significant interaction between the APOA2 -265T > C variant and higher-fat dairy food intake in the Boston Puerto Ricans (P-interaction = 0.028) and replicated this relation in the GOLDN study (P-interaction = 0.001). In both groups, individuals with the previously demonstrated SFA-sensitive genotype (CC) who consumed a greater amount of higher-fat dairy foods had greater BMI (P = 0.013 in Boston Puerto Ricans; P = 0.0007 in GOLDN women) compared with those consuming less of the higher-fat dairy foods. The results expand the understanding of the metabolic influence of dairy products, an important food group for which variable relations to body weight may be in part genetically based. Moreover, these findings suggest that other strongly demonstrated gene-nutrient relations might be investigated through appropriate food-based, translatable avenues and may be relevant to dietary management of obesity.