19 Mar Fried Food Consumption and Obesity Linked to Genetic Predisposition
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Lu Qi,
Assistant Professor, Department of Nutrition
Harvard School of Public Health and Channing Division of Network Medicine
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Lu Qi: In this study, we for the first time provide reproducible evidence from three large cohort studies to show that the association between regular consumption of fried foods and higher BMI was particularly pronounced among people with a greater genetic predisposition to obesity. On the other hand, the adverse genetic effects on BMI were also amplified by consuming more fried foods, the effects among those who ate fried foods more than four times a week was about twice as large compared with those who ate them less than once a week.
MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?
Dr. Lu Qi: It has been increasingly accepted human genome make-up may interplay with our lifestyle and diet in determining obesity, but know little about which lifestyle or dietary factors play roles in such interactions. Our findings are ground breaking.
MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Lu Qi: We encourage everyone to reduce fried food intakes and follow a healthy lifestyle. However, it appears time to start to consider how to integrate the novel genomic knowledge into our future health recommendations and practices. The new knowledge hold great promise to improve the efficacy of prevention and treatment of obesity and other metabolic disease, especially in those genetically at high risk.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Lu Qi: Large scale international collaborations are highly needed to further validate our findings, especially in those of various ethnicities. Our study only included adults, it is equally important to address the gene-fried food interactions in children. I also look forward to collaborations with experts in functional research to explore the potential mechanisms underlying the gene-diet interactions.
Citation:
Last Updated on March 19, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD