Hypovitaminosis D during infancy is associated with the development of chronic diseases and poor health later in life. While the effect of environmental factors on vitamin D concentration has been extensively explored, this study aimed to explore the effect of genetic factors on vitamin D concentration among Chinese infants. We conducted a multi-centre cross-sectional study in Hong Kong from July 2019 to May 2021. A candidate genetic approach was adopted to study four selected genetic variants of the vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) (rs4588, rs7041, rs2282679 and rs2228570) to examine their associations with measured serum 25(OH)D concentration. A total of 378 Chinese infants aged 2-12 months were recruited in this study. Peripheral blood samples were collected from the infants to measure serum 25(OH)D concentration and extract DNA. Results showed that rs7041T and rs2282679C were significantly associated with lower serum 25(OH)D concentration. Further analysis of the DBP variants revealed that the GC1F allele was significantly associated with lower 25(OH)D concentration and identified as the risk DBP isoform in infants. While our results revealed that there is no direct association between VDR-FokI genotype and serum 25(OH)D concentration, a VDR-FokI genotype-specific pattern was observed in the association between DBP isoforms and serum 25(OH)D concentration. Specifically, significant associations were observed in the DBP genotypes GC1F/F, GC1F/2 and GC1S/2 among VDR-FokI TT/TC carriers, but not in VDR-FokI CC carriers. Our findings lay down the basis for the potential of genetic screening to identify high risk of hypovitaminosis D in Chinese infants.
Keywords: 25(OH)D; Chinese; GC gene; VDR gene; Vitamin D-binding protein; infants.
© 2023 The Authors. Nutrition Bulletin published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Nutrition Foundation.