The Metabolic Paradox
The results obtained as part of a randomized controlled clinical trial conducted by Harvard University specialists working under the guidance of Dr. Lu Qi showed that patients with a single nucleotide polymorphism rs1522813 in the gene encoding the substrate of insulin receptor-1 (IRS1) had significantly higher chances of recovery from metabolic syndrome when consuming rich fats of food.
The results of an earlier study showed that diets with different fat and carbohydrate contents demonstrate the same effectiveness in combating metabolic syndrome in overweight and obese patients.
On the other hand, according to the results of the work of another group of authors, genetic variants localized in the immediate vicinity of the IRS1 gene are associated with the peculiarities of the course of the metabolic syndrome. After comparing these data, Qi and his colleagues decided to analyze the possible influence of these snips (from the English single-nucleotide polymorphism, single nucleotide polymorphisms) on the effects of various diets on the condition of patients with metabolic symptoms. To do this, they genotyped 738 overweight and obese people for the presence of two snips in their genomes: rs1522813 and rs2943641.
Among patients with the rs1522813 genetic variant, the improvement of metabolic syndrome symptoms during the 2-year follow-up period occurred more often with the consumption of fat-rich than low-fat foods: 45.9% and 28.1%, respectively. In patients without this genetic variant, including those with the second of the analyzed variants, rs2943641, the fat content in the diet did not affect the probability of resolving the metabolic syndrome.
According to the authors, the effect of the diet on metabolic parameters was manifested independently of changes in the patients' body weight. This indicates that the effect of the interaction between the genotype and the nature of the diet depends only to a small extent on the degree of obesity.
The researchers hope that the data they have obtained will be useful in developing dietary approaches to combat metabolic syndrome based on genetic data. At the same time, they note that it is still unclear how a fat-rich diet interacts with the genotype and which mechanisms involved in this provide the best results from the point of view of metabolism. The answer to this question remains to be seen. It is quite possible that it lies in the reduction of the carbohydrate component of the diet.
Article by Qi L et al. IRS1 genotype modulates metabolic syndrome reversal in response to 2-year weight-loss diet intervention published in the journal Diabetes Care.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of MedPage Today:
Fat Plus SNP Fights Metabolic Syndrome.
17.09.2013