The Role of Genetics in Weight Loss

Summary

The prevalence of both overweight and obesity is increasing at an alarming rate worldwide. In fact, it is estimated that 2.16 billion adults (38%) will be overweight and 1.12 billion adults (20%) will be obese by 2030. Among other risk factors (e.g., environmental, behavioral, and medical), genetics holds an important role. Genome-wide association studies have discovered hundreds of loci associated with body mass index (BMI). Polygenic scores (PS) are generated from a combination of millions of genetic variants that are associated with BMI. Several diet intervention studies aimed at reducing body weight in overweight and obese individuals. However, the effect of genetic background on the effectiveness of diet interventions is largely unknown. To our knowledge, the Diet Intervention Examining The Factors Interacting with Treatment Success (DIETFITS) trial is the only prospective study that has been designed to evaluate the effect of genotypes in modifying the impact of a healthy low-fat diet vs a healthy low-carbohydrate diet on weight change, but this study did not consider PS.

The aim of our study is to determine whether BMI PS impacts the effectiveness of dietary intervention in reducing BMI among individuals with elevated BMI.

To achieve this, the investigators will leverage the unique opportunity provided by the Finnish biobanks research environment to re-contact 1200 individuals who have extreme genetic predisposition for high/low BMI as measured by a PS for BMI and evaluate how a randomized diet intervention effect varies between the two extreme groups. In brief, the investigators will invite overweight (25-35 BMI) individuals with very high (Top 5%; n=600) and very low (Bottom 5%; n=600) PS for BMI. Half of the participants in each group will be subsequently randomized to enroll in a dietary/lifestyle coaching intervention program or the placebo group and not receive any dietary advice or information. All participants will be asked to answer an online questionnaire and provide a fasting blood sample at baseline and at the end of the study.

This well-powered prospective study leverages the unique opportunity to re-contact individuals at the extremes of BMI PS from a large pool of individuals with already available genetic information. This study will determine whether BMI PS can be used to identify overweight and obese individuals who are more likely to succeed in a reduced-energy dietary intervention, which will assist our efforts in curbing the overweight and obesity epidemic.

Conditions

• Body Mass Index (BMI)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Diet intervention program

Participants will get 5 meals/day based on their calorie needs minus 500 kcal/day less than their daily calorie expenditure. All meals will be tracked via a mobile application, including any meals outside the recommended food plan. The calories will be calculated based on the information provided. To calculate the calories burned from any activities, all participants in the diet intervention arm will get an activity tracking device. The first calorie level is calculated based on the information in the registration form: age, height, weight, gender, and personal view of the daily activity. After that, and once the activity tracker is synced to the program, the calorie level is calculated based on the 7-day average calories burned. The external diet intervention provider will be blinded to whether the study participants belong to the top or bottom 5% of the polygenic score for BMI.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Helsinki

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Andrea Ganna · University of Helsinki

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

35 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-10-02

Primary Completion

2024-11-08

Completion

2024-12-16

Countries

• Finland

Study Locations