Interaction between Dietary Magnesium Intake and Genetic Risk Score on the Risk of Gestational Diabetes

Abstract

ScopeWe aim to assess the interaction between genetic risk and magnesium (Mg) intake during pregnancy on the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Methods and resultsThree thousand ninety‐six pregnant women from Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort are involved in our study. One hundred twelve susceptibility genetic variants of diabetes are selected and genotyped through Asian Screening Array bead chip. Mg intake were assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire conducted at gestational weeks 25.1 ± 2.7 before GDM diagnosis. The study identifies 22 variants associated with GDM. Weighted genetic risk score (GRS) based on these 22 SNPs is associated with higher occurrence of GDM. There is an interaction between GRS and Mg intake on GDM risk (p‐interaction = 0.019). Pregnant women with high GRS (≥23.48) and insufficient Mg intake (<370.0 mg d−1) have a 1.74 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02, 2.98) fold risk of GDM after adjusting for potential confounders. No such relationship exists among pregnant women with low GRS (<23.48) (adjusted relative risk [RR] = 1.18; 95% CI: 0.73, 1.92).ConclusionGenetic predisposition to GDM is modified by Mg intake. This suggests that clinical nutrition guidance may benefit from being tailored by screening women with high diabetic genetic risk.