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Review
. 2022 Feb 25;13(3):420.
doi: 10.3390/genes13030420.

Mediterranean Diet and Genetic Determinants of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in European Children and Adolescents

Miguel Seral-Cortes  1 , Alicia Larruy-García  1 , Pilar De Miguel-Etayo  1   2 , Idoia Labayen  3 , Luis A Moreno  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Mediterranean Diet and Genetic Determinants of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in European Children and Adolescents

Miguel Seral-Cortes et al. Genes (Basel). .

Abstract

Childhood obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are multifactorial diseases influenced by genetic and environmental factors. The Mediterranean Diet (MD) seems to modulate the genetic predisposition to obesity or MetS in European adults. The FTO gene has also been shown to have an impact on the MD benefits to avoid obesity or MetS. Since these interaction effects have been scarcely analyzed in European youth, the aim was to describe the gene-MD interplay, analyzing the impact of the genetic factors to reduce the obesity and MetS risk through MD adherence, and the MD impact in the obesity and MetS genetic profile. From the limited evidence on gene-MD interaction studies in European youth, a study showed that the influence of high MD adherence on adiposity and MetS was only observed with a limited number of risk alleles; the gene-MD interplay showed sex-specific differences, being higher in females. Most results analyzed in European adults elucidate that, the relationship between MD adherence and both obesity and MetS risk, could be modulated by obesity genetic variants and vice versa. Further research is needed, to better understand the inter-individual differences in the association between MD and body composition, and the integration of omics and personalized nutrition considering MD.

Keywords: Mediterranean Diet; children and adolescents; genetic risk score; interaction effect; metabolic syndrome; obesity; single nucleotide polymorphism.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. The content of this article reflects the authors’ views alone, and the European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Conceptual framework of the present narrative review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interaction models between body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and metabolic syndrome score (MetS Score) and the Mediterranean diet (MD) according to the obesity genetic risk score (Obesity-GRS) modulation compared by gender (males left panel, females right panel). The Obesity-GRS values (18–28) are displayed according to our population distribution. Legend: The population distribution design follows different line patterns with reference points to observe the trend of the adolescent cohort according to the genetic risk for obesity. To analyze these results represented in the figure, a positive gradient shows the MD acting as arisk factor, while a negative gradient shows the protective role of the MD.
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