Mixed
Current tobacco smoking modifies genetic susceptibility to obesity traits, specifically increasing genetic variance explained for overall adiposity (BMI) while attenuating genetic effects on body fat distribution (waist-to-hip ratio).
If you smoke, your genetic risk for gaining overall weight (BMI) may be higher than if you didn't smoke, but your genetic risk for storing fat around your waist (body shape) may be lower. Quitting smoking might change how your genes express themselves regarding weight distribution. This highlights that lifestyle choices like smoking can interact with your DNA to influence your body composition.
Our results suggest that tobacco smoking may alter the genetic susceptibility to overall adiposity and body fat distribution.
Why this rating
Large-scale genome-wide meta-analysis of 241,258 adults with robust statistical validation and independent replication.
Source
Genome-wide meta-analysis of 241,258 adults accounting for smoking behaviour identifies novel loci for obesity traits
Anne E. Justice et al. · Nature Communications · 2017
DOI 10.1038/ncomms14977
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