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Clinical Studies and Practice

Circulating ACE is a predictor of weight loss maintenance not only in overweight and obese women, but also in men

International Journal of Obesity volume 36, pages 1545–1551 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Circulating angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) was identified as a predictor of weight loss maintenance in overweight/obese women of the Diogenes project.

OBJECTIVE:

To investigate whether ACE acted also as a predictor in men of the Diogenes study and to compare it with that in women.

DESIGN:

Subjects, who lost ⩾8% of body weight induced by low-caloric diet in an 8-week weight loss period, were assigned to weight loss maintenance with dietary intervention for 6 months.

SUBJECTS:

125 overweight/obese healthy men from eight European countries who completed whole intervention.

MEASUREMENTS:

Concentrations and activity of serum ACE at baseline and after the 8-week weight loss, in addition to anthropometric and physiological parameters.

RESULTS:

Serum ACE concentration decreased by 11.3±10.6% during the weight loss period in men. A greater reduction is associated with less body weight regain during the maintenance period (r=0.227, P=0.012). ACE change was able to predict a weight regain ⩽20% after 6 months, with an odds ratio of 1.59 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09–2.33, P=0.016) for every 10% reduction, which was independent of body mass index and weight loss. The prediction power was weaker in men than in women, but without a significant sex difference (P=0.137). In pooled subjects (N=218), the odds ratio was 1.96 (95% CI: 1.46–2.64, P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS:

A greater reduction of ACE during weight loss is favorable for weight maintenance in both men and women. This can offer useful information for personalized advice to improve weight loss maintenance. It also confirms the role of ACE in the metabolic pathways of weight regulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work is part of the Diogenes project, which is supported by the European Community (Contract No. FOOD-CT-2005-513946).

Author information

Author notes

  1. P Wang, C Holst, W K W H Wodzig, M R Andersen, A Astrup, M A van Baak, T M Larsen, S A Jebb, A Kafatos, A F H Pfeiffer, J A Martinez, T Handjieva-Darlenska, M Kunesova, N Viguerie, D Langin, W H M Saris and E C M Mariman: Diogenes is the acronym of the project ‘Diet, Obesity and Genes’ supported by the European Community (Contract No. FOOD-CT-2005-513946), http://www.diogenes-eu.org/.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Biology, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    P Wang, M A van Baak, W H M Saris & E C M Mariman

  2. Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark

    C Holst

  3. Department of Clinical Chemistry, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    W K W H Wodzig

  4. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte, Denmark

    M R Andersen

  5. Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    A Astrup & T M Larsen

  6. MRC Human Nutrition Research, Elsie Widdowson Laboratory, Cambridge, UK

    S A Jebb

  7. Department of Social Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic, University of Crete, Crete, Greece

    A Kafatos

  8. Department of Clinical Nutrition, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Nuthetal, Berlin, Germany

    A F H Pfeiffer

  9. Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    A F H Pfeiffer

  10. Department of Physiology and Nutrition, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    J A Martinez

  11. Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Metabolic Diseases, National Multiprofile Transport Hospital, Sofia, Bulgaria

    T Handjieva-Darlenska

  12. Obesity Management Centre, Institute of Endocrinology, Prague, Czech Republic

    M Kunesova

  13. Obesity Research Laboratory, Institute of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    N Viguerie & D Langin

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Correspondence to E C M Mariman.

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Competing interests

A patent application concerning part of the results of this study has been filed by the University Maastricht (Application No. EP10172846). The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Wang, P., Holst, C., Wodzig, W. et al. Circulating ACE is a predictor of weight loss maintenance not only in overweight and obese women, but also in men. Int J Obes 36, 1545–1551 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2011.278

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