The results were published in the “JAMA Pediatrics” journal under the title “Obesity Genes and Weight Loss During Lifestyle Intervention in Children with Obesity”. The journal has an impact factor of 13.9, making it the highest ranked paediatric journal in the world.
“It is naturally an honour for our publication and especially, for the lead author Dr. Melanie Heitkamp, that the results of the study were published together with an editorial in JAMA Pediatrics,” Prof. Dr. Halle is delighted to announce.
Genome-wide previous studies had identified genetic loci, i.e., the physical position of a gene in the genome, that influence the risk of obesity in children. However, the significance of these loci in the context of weight reduction due to interventions in everyday life has not yet been explored in larger studies. Therefore, the aim was to investigate associations between different loci associated with obesity and changes in body weight in children in an intervention programme during an inpatient hospital admission.
The LOGIC study (“Long-Term Effects of Lifestyle Intervention in Obesity and Genetic Influence in Children”), conducted between January 2006 and October 2013, involved 1,429 children affected by being overweight or obese. The subjects were involved in a four- to six-week standardised intervention programme with daily physical activity, a calorie-reduced diet and behavioural therapy during an inpatient hospital stay. The subjects were involved in a four- to six-week standardised intervention programme with daily physical activity, a calorie-reduced diet and behavioural therapy during an inpatient hospital stay.
1,198 (670 girls, 528 boys) of the 1,429 participants were genotyped. On average, the children lost 8.7 kilograms of body weight during the intervention programme, and their body mass index (BMI) was reduced by 3.3 kg/m². Five of the 56 obesity single nucleotide variants studied were found to be statistically significantly associated with a change in body weight or BMI.
“What is special about the study design is that not just a few 100, rather, more than 1,000 children participated in the intervention programme,” explains Prof. Halle. “In this respect, the results are very significant in the context of this type of cohort study.”
The research team led by Dr. Heitkamp, a Research Associate at the Chair of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine, was able to determine from the study that genes play a rather subordinate role in the context of weight loss in children who are overweight or obese. The results tend to suggest that environmental, social and behavioural factors are more important in obesity treatment strategies.
“Our hypothesis that gene loci associated with an increased body mass index also lead to worse weight loss was not confirmed, however, the results are still very significant,” emphasises Dr. Heitkamp. “In fact, during research, two genes were found to be associated with less weight loss and three genes with better weight loss. Therefore, our recommendation is to highlight further obesity-relevant polymorphisms and to do so in a broad manner.”