Associations between adiposity and repetitive element DNA methylation in healthy postmenopausal women.

Abstract

To describe the association between adiposity and repetitive element DNA methylation in healthy postmenopausal women. A cross-sectional study was conducted using baseline information from 289 women who participated in the Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prevention trial. After adjusting for important confounders, long interspersed nuclear element-1 methylation was positively associated with intra-abdominal fat area (p=0.03), body fat percent (p=0.048), fat mass (p=0.01), waist circumference (p=0.03), hip circumference (p=0.001), BMI (p=0.03), current weight (p=0.002), weight at age 20 (p=0.02) and adulthood weight gain (p=0.03). No significant associations were found between any of the adiposity measures and Alu methylation. Current and historical adiposity measures are positively associated with long interspersed nuclear element-1 methylation in healthy postmenopausal women.