The Effect of Interactions of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of APOA1/APOC3 with Food Group Intakes on the Risk of Metabolic Syndrome

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the interaction of dietary food groups and genetic variants of APOA1/APOC3, relative to Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) risk in adults. METHODS: In this matched nested case-control study, 414 MetS subjects and 414 controls were selected from among participants of Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study. Dietary intake was assessed with the use of a valid and reliable semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), APOA1 (rs670, −75G>A and rs5069, +83C>T/APOC3 rs5128 C3238>G) were genotyped by the conventional polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: The mean (SD) of age was 40.7 (13) and 41.2 (13) years in male cases and controls versus 44.0 (11) and 44.0 (12) years in female case and controls. A significant interaction between intake quartiles of the sugar group and APOA1 combined group (GA+AA/CT+TT) SNPs was found; The ORs for these genotype carriers were (1, 0.44, 0.36, 0.23; P trend<0.001) in quartiles of intake, relative to other combined genotypes (P interaction=0.02). MetS risk appeared to be increased significantly in higher quartiles of sweet beverages and fish intakes in the GA+AA/CT+TT/CC genotypes of APOA1/APOC3 SNPs, compared to other genotypes (P interaction=0.01). The combined effect of genotypes of APOC3/APOA1 showed further decrease in MetS risk in higher quartiles of sugar group intakes (OR: 1, 0.24, 0.26, 0.14, P trend=0.001) relative to other combinations (P interaction=0.008). CONCLUSION: Results obtained demonstrate that some dietary food groups (sugar, fish, and sweet beverages) modulate the effect of APOA1/APOC3 SNPs in relation to MetS risk.