Pooled analysis of epigenome-wide association studies of food consumption in KORA, TwinsUK and LLS

Abstract

Purpose Examining epigenetic patterns is a crucial step in identifying molecular changes of disease pathophysiology, with DNA methylation as the most accessible epigenetic measure. Diet is suggested to affect metabolism and health via epigenetic modifications. Thus, our aim was to explore the association between food consumption and DNA methylation. Methods Epigenome-wide association studies were conducted in three cohorts: KORA FF4, TwinsUK, and Leiden Longevity Study, and 37 dietary exposures were evaluated. Food group definition was harmonized across the three cohorts. DNA methylation was measured using Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip in KORA and Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip in the Leiden study and the TwinsUK study. Overall, data from 2293 middle-aged men and women were included. A fixed-effects meta-analysis pooled study-specific estimates. The significance threshold was set at 0.05 for false-discovery rate-adjusted p values per food group. Results We identified significant associations between the methylation level of CpG sites and the consumption of onions and garlic (2), nuts and seeds (18), milk (1), cream (11), plant oils (4), butter (13), and alcoholic beverages (27). The signals targeted genes of metabolic health relevance, for example, GLI1, RPTOR, and DIO1, among others. Conclusion This EWAS is unique with its focus on food groups that are part of a Western diet. Significant findings were mostly related to food groups with a high-fat content.

Unveiling the Epigenetic Impact of Vegan vs. Omnivorous Diets on Aging: Insights from the Twins Nutrition Study (TwiNS)

“…Finally, the exploration of global DNA methylation patterns across the entire epigenome revealed notable disparities between the vegan and omnivore cohorts, identifying 607 and 494 differentially methylated loci (DMLs) across the genome, respectively. This comprehensive epigenome-wide analysis aligns with a growing body of literature examining the epigenetic effects of different dietary patterns (Do et al 2021;Hellbach, Sinke, et al 2023;Hellbach, Freuer, et al 2023). When we analyzed each diet group independently, we observed 322 hypomethylated probes in the vegan diet and 185 in the omnivore diet.…”

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

“…Then, research started to look directly at dietary factors that influence DNA methylation and until today focused heavily on micronutrients such as folic acid or B vitamins (6). Mandaviya et al (7) showed associations between dietary folate intake and CpG methylation in an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS), but other groups were unable to confirm these associations (8,9). Altogether, research on DNA methylation and dietary folate intake is still inconclusive (5).…”

“…The literature provides some EWAS results for the dietary consumption of food (summarized in food groups) (9,10). To date, no analyses have examined the longitudinal association of food consumption and temporal change of DNA methylation in mononuclear blood cells.…”

“…To date, no analyses have examined the longitudinal association of food consumption and temporal change of DNA methylation in mononuclear blood cells. Based on our experience in crosssectional analyses (6,9), we aimed to explore the interaction of diet and time on DNA methylation at the food group level by conducting EWAS on the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip array with 850k CpG sites. Specifically, we assessed the association between food groups and changes in DNA methylation over time.…”