Usual dietary intake and change in DNA methylation over years: EWAS in KORA FF4 and KORA fit

Fabian Hellbach; Dennis Freuer; Christa Meisinger; Annette Peters; Juliane Winkelmann; Ricardo Costeira; Hans Hauner; Sebastian-Edgar Baumeister; Jordana T Bell; Melanie Waldenberger; Jakob Linseisen

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1295078

Usual dietary intake and change in DNA methylation over years: EWAS in KORA FF4 and KORA fit

Front Nutr. 2024 Jan 5:10:1295078. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1295078. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Fabian Hellbach^{1

2}, Dennis Freuer¹, Christa Meisinger¹, Annette Peters^{2

3

4

5}, Juliane Winkelmann^{6

7}, Ricardo Costeira⁸, Hans Hauner^{9

10}, Sebastian-Edgar Baumeister¹¹, Jordana T Bell⁸, Melanie Waldenberger^{3

4

12}, Jakob Linseisen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Augsburg, University Hospital Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.
² Medical Faculty, Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany.
³ Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany.
⁴ Research Unit Molecular Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany.
⁵ German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD e.V.), Neuherberg, Germany.
⁶ Institute of Neurogenomic, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany.
⁷ Technical University of Munich, Institute of Human Genetics, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Munich, Germany.
⁸ Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁹ Else Kröner-Fresenius-Center for Nutritional Medicine, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany.
¹⁰ School of Medicine, Institute of Nutritional Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
¹¹ Medical Faculty, Institute of Health Services Research in Dentistry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
¹² German Research Center for Cardiovascular Disease (DZHK), Partner Site Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany.

Abstract

Introduction: Changes in DNA methylation can increase or suppress the expression of health-relevant genes. We investigated for the first time the relationship between habitual food consumption and changes in DNA methylation.

Methods: The German KORA FF4 and KORA Fit studies were used to study the change in methylation over a median follow-up of 4 years. Only subjects participating in both surveys and with available dietary and methylation data were included in the analysis (n = 465). DNA methylation was measured using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip (Illumina), resulting in 735,527 shared CpGs across both studies. Generalized estimating equation models with an interaction term of exposure and time point were used to analyze the association of 34 food groups, folic acid, and two dietary patterns with changes in DNA methylation over time.

Results: The results were corrected for genomic inflation. Significant interaction terms indicate different effects between both time points. We observed only a few significant associations between food intake and change in DNA methylation, except for cream and spirit consumption. The annotated genes include CLN3, PROM1, DLEU7, TLL2, and UGT1A10.

Discussion: We identified weak associations between food consumption and DNA methylation change. The differential results for cream and spirits, both consumed in low quantities, require replication in independent studies.

Keywords: DNA methylation; diet; epidemiology; food group; usual dietary intake.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The project DIMENSION received financial support from a grant from the European HDHL JPI funding scheme; Project no.: 01EA1902B (JL).