Abstract
Uncovering the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and DNA methylation could be useful to understand molecular mechanisms underpinning the effects of obesity. Here, we presented a cross-sectional study, aiming to evaluate the association of BMI and obesity with long interspersed nuclear elements (LINE-1) methylation, among 488 women from Catania, Italy. LINE-1 methylation was assessed in leukocyte DNA by pyrosequencing. We found a negative association between BMI and LINE-1 methylation level in both the unadjusted and adjusted linear regression models. Accordingly, obese women exhibited lower LINE-1 methylation level than their normal weight counterpart. This association was confirmed after adjusting for the effect of age, educational level, employment status, marital status, parity, menopause, and smoking status. Our findings were in line with previous evidence and encouraged further research to investigate the potential role of DNA methylation markers in the management of obesity.
Highlights
Overweight and obesity are delineated by an excessive accumulation of body fat, which results in a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2, respectively [1]
BMI was calculated as the ratio between weight and squared height (m2), and participants were categorized into underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria [28]
The study population consisted of 488 women, aged 15-85 years, with a complete assessment of anthropometric measures and LINE-1 methylation of leukocyte DNA
Summary
Overweight and obesity are delineated by an excessive accumulation of body fat, which results in a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2, respectively [1]. According to the most recent estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 2 billion adults were overweight in 2016, out of which approximately 650 million were obese [2]. In line with these estimates, more than one adult in ten (~13%) were obese in 2016, with a prevalence that tripled in the last four decades [2]. Overweight and obesity account for an important burden for public health [3], because raised BMI is often associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, and some cancers [4]. Children born from overweight or obese women were at higher risk of being born large for gestational age [7, 9, 12, 13] and preterm [14] and to develop metabolic disorders later in life [15,16,17]
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