Common variants in leptin and leptin receptor genes are associated with specific eating patterns in the Czech population
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Addiction and Eating Disorders: Neurobiology and Comorbidities |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Endocrinology, diabetology, metabolism, nutrition |
| Keywords | leptin; leptin receptor; obesity; eating patterns |
| Description | INTRODUCTION: Mutations in the leptin and the leptin receptor genes were previously reported to cause rare obese syndromes of Mendelian inheritance, however, both leptin and leptin receptor play also an important role in common multifactorial obesity. Therefore, increasing attention is being paid to specific eating patterns as obesity determining traits that undoubtedly display a heritable component. In this study, we determinated whether genetic variations within the leptin and leptin receptor genes underlie specific eating patterns. METHODS: The case control study comprised a total of 45 obese individuals and 38 healthy controls aged from 18.6 to 68.2 y whose uptake of nutrients was determined by using 7 days food records; with special attention paid to the use of excessive portion sizes or irregularity in eating. They were genotyped for the LEP -2548G/A (5 UTR) and LEPR Gln223Arg (exon 4) variants by means of PCR-based methodology. RESULTS: No statistically significant associations of both examined polymorphisms with age, BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, history of sterility or infertility or waist-to-hip ratio were observed. Obese carriers of examined allelic variations in leptin or the leptin receptor gene did not express an increased risk to display extreme snacking behavior or to eat excessive portion sizes; however, the AG carriers of LEPR Gln223Arg tended significantly to prefer the low-fibre diet (p=0.03). DISCUSSION: These results do not provide evidence for a preferential transmission of some alleles of the LEP of LEPR polymorphism in obesity, but support the hypothesis that LEPR Gln223Arg confers susceptibility to specific eating patterns, such as low fibre diet. |