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Epidemiology and Population Health

DNA methylation variant, B-vitamins intake and longitudinal change in body mass index

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 468–474 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Growing evidence has implicated DNA methylation (DNAm) in the regulation of body adiposity; a recent epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) identified a genetic variant determining DNAm at the SREBF1 gene that affected body mass index (BMI).

Objective

In the present study, we tested interactions between DNAm variant rs752579 and methylation metabolism-related B-vitamins (folate, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12) on longitudinal change in BMI in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS).

Design

A total of 5687 white women aged 65–79 from WHIMS with genotyping data on SNP rs752579 were included in the analysis. B-vitamins intakes were estimated by a self-report semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. BMI was measured at baseline and 6-year follow-up.

Result

We found significant interactions between the SREBF1 rs752579 genotype and intake of food source B-vitamins on 6-year change in BMI (p interaction <0.01 for all). BMI changes (kg/m2) per DNAm-increasing (C) allele were −0.29, 0.06, and 0.11 within subgroups of increasing tertiles of food source folate intake; and the corresponding BMI changes (kg/m2) were −0.25, −0.01, and 0.15 for vitamin B2 intake; −0.17, −0.16, and 0.21 for vitamin B6 intake; and −0.12, −0.23, and 0.26 for vitamin B12 intake, respectively. Similar gene–diet interaction patterns were observed on the change in body weight.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that habitual intake of food source B-vitamins may modify the effect of DNAm-related variant on long-term adiposity change.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate all the participants in WHIMS for their continued cooperation.

Funding

The study was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL071981, HL034594, HL126024), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK115679, DK091718, DK100383, DK078616), the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (DK46200), and United States—Israel Binational Science Foundation Grant 2011036. LQ was a recipient of the American Heart Association Scientist Development Award (0730094N).

Author contributions

XL and LQ conceived and designed the study. LQ acquired the data. XL performed data analyses and drafted the manuscript. DS, MZ, and TH provided statistical assistance. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content and approved the final version of the manuscript. LQ is the guarantor and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Xiang Li, Tiange Wang, Min Zhao, Tao Huang, Dianjianyi Sun, Liyuan Han, Hoirun Nisa, Yoriko Heianza & Lu Qi

  2. Epidemiology Domain, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Tao Huang

  3. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, State Islamic University, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Hoirun Nisa

  4. Children’s Hospital New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Xiaoyun Shang

  5. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Lu Qi

  6. Department of Medicine, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Lu Qi

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  1. Xiang Li
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Li, X., Wang, T., Zhao, M. et al. DNA methylation variant, B-vitamins intake and longitudinal change in body mass index. Int J Obes 43, 468–474 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-018-0106-1

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