The Personalized Nutrition Study (POINTS): evaluation of a genetically informed weight loss approach, a randomized clinical trial

Höchsmann, C., Yang, S., Ordovás, J. M., Dorling, J. L. , Champagne, C. M., Apolzan, J. W., Greenway, F. L., Cardel, M. I., Foster, G. D. and Martin, C. K. (2023) The Personalized Nutrition Study (POINTS): evaluation of a genetically informed weight loss approach, a randomized clinical trial. Nature Communications, 14(1), 6321. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41969-1) (PMID:37813841) (PMCID:PMC10562431)

Abstract

Weight loss (WL) differences between isocaloric high-carbohydrate and high-fat diets are generally small; however, individual WL varies within diet groups. Genotype patterns may modify diet effects, with carbohydrate-responsive genotypes losing more weight on high-carbohydrate diets (and vice versa for fat-responsive genotypes). We investigated whether 12-week WL (kg, primary outcome) differs between genotype-concordant and genotype-discordant diets. In this 12-week single-center WL trial, 145 participants with overweight/obesity were identified a priori as fat-responders or carbohydrate-responders based on their combined genotypes at ten genetic variants and randomized to a high-fat (n = 73) or high-carbohydrate diet (n = 72), yielding 4 groups: (1) fat-responders receiving high-fat diet, (2) fat-responders receiving high-carbohydrate diet, (3) carbohydrate-responders receiving high-fat diet, (4) carbohydrate-responders receiving high-carbohydrate diet. Dietitians delivered the WL intervention via 12 weekly diet-specific small group sessions. Outcome assessors were blind to diet assignment and genotype patterns. We included 122 participants (54.4 [SD:13.2] years, BMI 34.9 [SD:5.1] kg/m2, 84% women) in the analyses. Twelve-week WL did not differ between the genotype-concordant (−5.3 kg [SD:1.0]) and genotype-discordant diets (−4.8 kg [SD:1.1]; adjusted difference: −0.6 kg [95% CI: −2.1,0.9], p = 0.50). With the current ability to genotype participants as fat- or carbohydrate-responders, evidence does not support greater WL on genotype-concordant diets. ClinicalTrials identifier: NCT04145466.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. C.H. was supported by an NIDDK National Research Service Award (T32DK064584), and J.L.D. was funded by the American Heart Association (Grant #20POST35210907).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dorling, Dr James
• Authors: Höchsmann, C., Yang, S., Ordovás, J. M., Dorling, J. L., Champagne, C. M., Apolzan, J. W., Greenway, F. L., Cardel, M. I., Foster, G. D., and Martin, C. K.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 14(1):6321
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license