MARQUES-VIDAL, PEDRO, VANINA BONGARD, JEAN-BERNARD RUIDAVETS, JOSETTE FAUVEL, HÉ LÈ NE HANAIRE-BROUTIN, BERTRAND PERRET, AND JEAN FERRIÈ RES. Obesity and alcohol modulate the effect of apolipoprotein E polymorphism on lipids and insulin. Obes Res. 2003;11:1200 -1206. Objective: To assess the interaction between apolipoprotein (apo) E polymorphism, alcohol consumption, and BMI on insulin, lipid, and lipoprotein levels in men.
Research Methods and Procedures:Cross-sectional study of 266 healthy men without hypolipidemic or antidiabetic drug treatment. BMI, apo E polymorphisms, insulin, and lipid and lipoprotein levels were assessed. Alcohol consumption was assessed by questionnaire. 2/4 carriers were excluded from the analysis. Results: On bivariate analysis, 2 carriers had lower levels of total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and higher levels of apo E and lipoparticle B:E than 3 carriers, the opposite being found for 4 carriers compared with 3 carriers; 4 carriers also had significantly higher insulin levels. On multivariate analysis, significant interactions (p Ͻ 0.04) between apo E alleles and increased BMI were found for total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and insulin levels, the increase in those parameters with BMI being stronger among 4 carriers than among 3 or 2 carriers. Significant interactions (p Ͻ 0.02) between apo E alleles and alcohol consumption were also found for apo B levels, which increased in 2 carriers but remained relatively stable in 3 and tended to decrease in 4 carriers. Discussion: These data suggest that effects of apo E alleles on lipids and insulin levels are partly dependent on environmental variables such as BMI and alcohol intake. These findings highlight the importance of gene ϫ environment interactions on the deleterious effect of obesity on cardiovascular risk factors.