Breastfeeding modulates the influence of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG2) Pro12Ala polymorphism on adiposity in adolescents: the HELENA Cross-Sectional Study
- Caroline Verier, MD1,
- Aline Meirhaeghe, PhD (Aline.Meirhaeghe-Hurez{at}pasteur-lille.fr)2,
- Szilvia Bokor, MD, PhD2,
- Christina Breidenassel, PhD3,
- Yannis Manios, PhD4,
- Dénes Molnár, MD, PhD5,
- Enrique G. Artero, PhD6,
- Esther Nova, PhD7,
- Stefaan De Henauw, MD, PhD8,
- Luis A. Moreno, MD, PhD9,
- Philippe Amouyel, MD, PhD1,
- Idoia Labayen, PhD10,
- Noemi Bevilacqua, MD11,
- Dominique Turck, MD1,
- Laurent Béghin, PhD1,12,
- Jean Dallongeville, MD, PhD2,
- Frédéric Gottrand, MD, PhD1 and
- on behalf of the HELENA study group
- 1 EA 3925, IFR114, Faculté de Médecine, Université Droit et Santé de Lille 2, Lille, France
- 2 INSERM, U744; Institut Pasteur de Lille; Univ Lille Nord de France; UDSL; Lille, France
- 3 Institut für Ernährungs- und Lebensmittelwissenschaften, Humanernährung, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms, Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- 4 Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece
- 5 Department of Paediatrics, Medical Faculty, University of Pecs, Pecs, Hungary
- 6 Department of Medical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Research Group EFFECTS 262; Granada, Spain
- 7 Department of Metabolism and Nutrition, Instituto Frío-ICTAN, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
- 8 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- 9 GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) Research Group, Escuela Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
- 10 Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of the Basque Country, Vitoria, Spain.
- 11 National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition (INRAN), Rome, Italy.
- 12 CIC-9301-CH&U-Inserm CHRU de Lille, F-59037 Lille, France.
Abstract
Objective: The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma 2 (PPARG2) Pro12Ala polymorphism has been associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood. The association between adiposity and PPARG variants can be influenced by environmental factors like early growth, dietary fat and (as recently shown) breastfeeding. The study objectives were to assess (i) the influence of the PPARG2 Pro12Ala polymorphism on adiposity markers in adolescents and (ii) a possible modulating effect of breastfeeding on these associations.
Methods: Data on breastfeeding duration, BMI and genotypes for the Pro12Ala polymorphism were available for 945 adolescents (mean age 14.7 y). The breastfeeding duration was obtained from parental records. We measured weight, height, waist circumference and 6 skinfold thicknesses.
Results: No significant associations between the Pro12Ala polymorphism and any of the above-mentioned anthropometric parameters were found. There were significant interactions between the PPARG2 Pro12Ala polymorphism and breastfeeding with regard to adiposity measurements (all adjusted p<0.05). Indeed, in children who had not been breastfed, Ala12 allele carriers had higher adiposity parameters (e.g. delta BMI: +1.88 kg/m2, adjusted -for age, gender and center- p=0.007) than Pro12Pro adolescents. In contrast, in breastfed subjects, there was no significant difference between Ala12 allele carriers and Pro12Pro children in terms of adiposity measurements, whatever the duration of breastfeeding.
Conclusion: Breastfeeding appears to counter the deleterious effect of the PPARG2Pro12Ala polymorphism on anthropometric parameters in adolescents.
Footnotes
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- Received August 6, 2009.
- Accepted October 12, 2009.
- Copyright © American Diabetes Association
