Hormonal
Higher body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are significantly associated with altered DNA methylation levels at specific genomic loci (including CPT1A, ABCG1, and HIF3A) in leukocytes, and these epigenetic signatures replicate across different ethnicities and tissue types, suggesting a biological link between adiposity and gene regulation.
This research confirms that carrying excess weight leaves a measurable 'epigenetic signature' on your blood cells, involving genes related to metabolism and inflammation. While the effect size of any single gene is small, the cumulative pattern is robust and replicable. Crucially, because these marks are modifiable, maintaining a healthy weight or losing weight may help normalize these epigenetic patterns, potentially reducing long-term disease risk.
Adiposity traits are associated with DNA methylation at numerous CpG sites that replicate across studies despite variation in tissue type, ethnicity and analytic approaches.
Why this rating
Large sample size (N=2097 discovery, multiple replication cohorts), rigorous statistical correction, and cross-tissue replication.
Source
Epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of BMI, BMI change and waist circumference in African American adults identifies multiple replicated loci
Ellen W. Demerath et al. · Human Molecular Genetics · 2015
DOI 10.1093/hmg/ddv161
More from this paper
- DNA methylation changes at loci such as CPT1A and ABCG1 are associated not just with current BMI, but with BMI change over time, suggesting these epigenetic markers may reflect dynamic metabolic history rather than just static adiposity.Good
- The association between obesity and DNA methylation at loci like HIF3A is not universal across all populations; specifically, HIF3A methylation associated with BMI in African Americans and European adults did not replicate in White replication cohorts (FHS/GOLDN) in this study.Good
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