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Minerals, trace elements, Vit. D and bone health

CYP27B1 as an instrument gene to investigate the causal relationship between vitamin D deficiency and obesity: a family-based study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 74, pages 806–810 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

Vitamin D deficiency was associated with obesity. However, the causal relationship remains controversial. We hypothesized that there would be family-based associations in both vitamin D deficient families and obese families for the SNPs associated with vitamin D deficiency, if vitamin D deficiency was a causal factor of obesity. We aimed to investigate the family-based association of SNPs in CYP27B1 with both vitamin D deficiency and obesity.

Methods

Four hundred and nineteen pedigrees containing 1505 rural individuals aged from 18 to 79 years in Henan Province of China were included in this study. Family-based associations of rs10877012 and rs4646536 in CYP27B1 with vitamin D deficiency and obesity were investigated. Serum 25(OH)D3 concentration <20 μg/L was defined as vitamin D deficiency. BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2 was applied for obesity definition. Taqman assays were applied for SNP genotyping. Family-based associations were investigated with FBAT software.

Results

It was shown that vitamin D deficiency was a risk factor of obesity (adjusted OR: 1.332, 95% CI: 1.042–1.703, P = 0.022). Furthermore, there were family-based associations for allele T of rs10877012 and allele T of rs4646536 in both vitamin D deficient families and obese families (P < 0.05). Both rs10877012 and rs4646536 were associated with serum 25(OH)D3 levels between siblings (P < 0.05), but not BMI (P > 0.05). In addition, there is linkage disequilibrium between rs10877012 and rs4646536 (D′ = 1.0, r2 = 0.992).

Conclusion

Vitamin D deficiency may be a causal factor of obesity. Maintaining sufficient vitamin D is beneficial to obesity prevention.

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Fig. 1: Association between vitamin D deficiency and BMI.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81703270, 81573151, and 81573243) and the National Key Research and Development Program “Precision Medicine Initiative” of China (No. 2016YFC0900803).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Public Health, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Songcheng Yu, Yinhua Feng, Wenqian Huo, Zhenxing Mao, Chongjian Wang, Wenjie Li & Xing Li

  2. College of Grain Oil and Food Science, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Chenling Qu

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  1. Songcheng Yu
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Correspondence to Xing Li.

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Yu, S., Feng, Y., Qu, C. et al. CYP27B1 as an instrument gene to investigate the causal relationship between vitamin D deficiency and obesity: a family-based study. Eur J Clin Nutr 74, 806–810 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-0594-7

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