Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To examine interactions between physical activity and possibly functional variants of the genes encoding uncoupling proteins −2 and −3 in relation to body weight change. We hypothesize that physical inactivity acts synergistically with a 45 bp insertion variant in the 3′untranslated region (3′UTR) of the UCP2-gene and with a t-allele of codon −55 in the promoter of the UCP3-gene in relation to subsequent weight change.
DESIGN:
Population-based longitudinal study of cohorts of juvenile obese and nonobese men, who were identified at the mandatory draft board examination in Copenhagen and adjacent regions at a median age of 19 y in 1943–77 and later examined at general health surveys in 1981–83 and 1991–93. The juvenile obese cohort included 568 men who at the draft board had a BMI ≥31 kg/m2 and the cohort of controls included 717 randomly selected draftees.
MEASUREMENTS:
Height and weight were measured, and information about physical activity was collected from a self-administered questionnaire. The genotyping of the polymorphisms was performed using RFLP techniques. The main outcome measure was change in BMI during the 10-y follow-up period. Additional outcome measures were obesity, waist circumference and body fat mass index measured at follow-up.
RESULTS:
Physical activity, the 3′UTR insertion polymorphism and the −55 c/t polymorphism were not consistently associated with changes in BMI, and there were no evidence for interactions between the UCP-variants and physical activity in relation to changes in BMI. No evidence for interaction between the UCP-variants and physical activity was found in relation to the additional obesity measures.
CONCLUSION:
This study does not support that interactions between physical activity and variants in the UCP2- or UCP3-gene are major determinants of subsequent weight changes in Danish Caucasian men.
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Acknowledgements
The Danish Medical Research Council, The Danish Heart Foundation and The Danish National Research Foundation supported the study. We also thank the staff of the Copenhagen City Heart Study for their invaluable assistance in the two examinations.
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Berentzen, T., Dalgaard, L., Petersen, L. et al. Interactions between physical activity and variants of the genes encoding uncoupling proteins −2 and −3 in relation to body weight changes during a 10-y follow-up. Int J Obes 29, 93–99 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802841
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802841
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