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Dietary Intervention and Assessment of Obesity-related Gene Methylation Levels in Overweight Women

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Obesity
Interventions
Other: Dietary folate and hazelnut oil
Registration Number
NCT04523532
Lead Sponsor
Thamires Ribeiro Chaves
Brief Summary

The clinical study aimed to study the effect of an intervention with foods containing folate and hazelnut oil to assess whether this diet could modulate the methylation levels of two obesity-related genes, LEP and POMC, in addition to impacting body weight and values of lipid profile of overweight women. The hypothesis of the clinical study is that the intervention diet could reduce the methylation levels of the genes mentioned and this would impact on the reduction of body weight and improvement of the lipid profile of the women studied.

Detailed Description

The intervention study was carried out with a sample selected by randomization, and n = 40 adult women classified as overweight were considered for the study. After assessing the eligibility criteria, women were instructed to have stable weight, eating habits and levels of physical activity constant to those found during the baseline, as well as receiving an individual diet plan one week before starting the dietary intervention. Before the start of the intervention, the 40 women were allocated to four groups of 10 each, and three groups started the individual diet plan for weight maintenance with a focus on vegetables and legumes with antioxidant and folate-rich action, and were also invited to consume foods fortified with folic acid and foods naturally rich in folate to achieve a usual folate intake close to the RAS (≥400 µg), this amount was for intervention group 1 and 2, group 3 received a lower amount (approximately half of the consumption of groups 1 and 2) and group 4 was the control group.

Still referring to the intervention, the participants of the three groups received advice from a nutritionist, responsible for this research and all the printed material free of charge, including pre-packaged foods, and also delivered hazelnut oil capsules, used as a source of monounsaturated fat. Counseling sessions with the nutritionist were offered daily at the homes during the entire period of the intervention, except for group 4, where the monitoring was weekly, to maintain eating habits.

After the end of the 8 weeks of the intervention, the third stage of the study began, which consisted of anthropometric assessment, analysis of the dietary intake of the 24-hour food record and blood collection for biochemical tests and DNA methylation.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
Female
Target Recruitment
40
Inclusion Criteria
  • Adult women, aged between 20 and 59 years;
  • Women with classification of overweight and obesity;
  • Women who signed the informed consent form.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Women who changed their lifestyle 3 months before the study started;
  • Alcoholic women or smokers;
  • Taking medications known to interfere with folic acid metabolism (in the past 3 months), such as antacids and anticonvulsants;
  • Individuals who use supplements in general, such as fish oil or other fatty acids;
  • Pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the study period.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Group 2: FolateDietary folate and hazelnut oilGroup 2 = in this group, the individuals received, during the period of 08 weeks daily, daily dietary intervention with, 300 g of folate-rich vegetables - 191 µg and 01 placebo capsule.
Group 3: Moderate folate + hazelnut oilDietary folate and hazelnut oilGroup 3 = in this group, individuals received, during the period of 08 weeks daily, with 300 g of vegetables containing 94 µg of folate and 01 capsule containing 25 mg of hazelnut oil per day.
Group 1: Folate + hazelnut oilDietary folate and hazelnut oilGroup 1 = in this group, the individuals received, during the period of 08 weeks daily, daily dietary intervention with, 300 g of vegetables rich in folate - 191µg and additionally received 01 capsule containing 25 mg hazelnut oil per day.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
DNA methylation levelsweek 8

For analysis of methylation levels the blood of the participants was collected, chosen for analysis, as it is a metabolically active tissue, with an important role in the adverse inflammatory and vascular consequences of adiposity, being widely used for the purpose of clinical diagnosis

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Food intakeweek 8

It is a method that describes a wide variety of foods, Reminder 24h (R24h) is used when you want to compare the average nutrient intake of different populations.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Raquel Patrícia Ataíde Lima

🇧🇷

João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil

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