The interaction between FTO rs9939609 and physical activity is associated with a 2-fold reduction in the risk of obesity in Korean population.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: FTO (fat mass and obesity-associated) gene is a well-known genetic risk factor for obesity. We investigated whether physical activity modulates the effect of FTO rs9939609 on obesity in Korean population. METHODS: The study analyzed the correlation between physical activity and obesity in 8840 individuals representing the Korea Association Resource (KARE). The association between obesity-related traits and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was assessed using linear regression models. Physical activity was defined as 3 hours or more of daily intense activity. RESULTS: Participants carrying rs9939609 (AT+AA) genotypes showed higher BMI compared with those carrying the wild-type (TT) homozygote. The highest significant association was observed between obesity-related traits (ß = .334, P value = 1.76 × 10-6 ). FTO rs9939609 (AT+AA) increased the risk of obesity (OR = 1.42, CI [1.13-1.79]), which was correlated with BMI correlations. However, active exercise by subjects carrying the same genotype reduced the risk of obesity by nearly 2-fold (OR = 0.62, CI [0.25-0.84]). In contrast, TT genotype was not statistically significant in reducing the risk of obesity in the active exercise group. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support a previous finding correlating FTO and obesity-related traits and suggest that the interaction with genetic variation and physical activity is an important risk factor for obesity.