Weight Loss: Influence of Genetics on Success of High-Fat vs Low Fat Diets

Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor of Nutrition Harvard School of Public HealthMedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lu Qi, MD, PhD, FAHA
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Assistant Professor of Nutrition
Harvard School of Public Health

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Answer: It has been known that weight loss diets may improve metabolic status, in parallel with reduction of body weight. We found that the beneficial of various weight loss diets, such as high-fat and low-fat diets, may be different for people carrying different genotype.

MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?

Answer: For long time, it is thought that a diet may affect people uniformly. However, our findings show evidence that this may be not true.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Answer: When people consider to reduce body weight or improve their metabolic status, they would choose the appropriate method, for example various weight-loss diets, according to their genetic feature. It is time to think about change from one-size-fits-all diet intervention toward personalized manner, by referring to ‘individuality’ of human genome.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Answer: I would suggest to perform more comprehensive evaluation, for instance using genome-wide approach, in multiple intervention trials.
Citation:

IRS1 Genotype Modulates Metabolic Syndrome Reversion in Response to 2-Year Weight-Loss Diet Intervention: The POUNDS LOST trial

Qibin Qi, Min Xu, Hongyu Wu, Liming Liang, Catherine M. Champagne, George A. Bray, Frank M. Sacks, and Lu Qi

Diabetes Care published ahead of print September 5, 2013, doi:10.2337/dc13-0018

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Last Updated on July 20, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD