Protein-truncating variants in BSN are associated with severe adult-onset obesity, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease

Publication: Nature Genetics

Yajie Zhao, Maria Chukanova, Katherine A. Kentistou, Zammy Fairhurst-Hunter, Anna Maria Siegert, Raina Y. Jia, Georgina K. C. Dowsett, Eugene J. Gardner, Katherine Lawler, Felix R. Day, Lena R. Kaisinger, Yi-Chun Loraine Tung, Brian Yee Hong Lam, Hsiao-Jou Cortina Chen, Quanli Wang, Jaime Berumen-Campos, Pablo Kuri-Morales, Roberto Tapia-Conyer, Jesus Alegre-Diaz, Inês Barroso, Jonathan Emberson, Jason M. Torres, Rory Collins, Danish Saleheen, Katherine R. Smith, Dirk S. Paul, Florian Merkle, I. Sadaf Farooqi, Nick J. Wareham, Slavé Petrovski, Stephen O’Rahilly, Ken K. Ong, Giles S. H. Yeo & John R. B. Perry

4 April 2024

Summary

A study has identified genetic variants in two genes that have some of the largest impacts on obesity risk discovered to date.

The discovery of rare variants in the genes BSN and APBA1 are some of the first obesity-related genes identified for which the increased risk of obesity is not observed until adulthood.

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Estimating dose-response relationships for vitamin D with coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality: observational and Mendelian randomisation analyses

Publication: The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology

Nick Wareham, Nita Forouhi

27 October 2021


Summary

Randomised trials of vitamin D supplementation for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality have generally reported null findings. However, generalisability of results to individuals with low vitamin D status is unclear. Researcgers aimed to characterise dose-response relationships between 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations and risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality in observational and Mendelian randomisation frameworks.

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Placental uptake and metabolism of 25(OH)vitamin D determine its activity within the fetoplacental unit

Publication: Elife

Brogan Ashley, Claire Simner, Antigoni Manousopoulou, Carl Jenkinson, Felicity Hey, Jennifer M Frost, Faisal I Rezwan, Cory H White, Emma M Lofthouse, Emily Hyde, Laura DF Cooke, Sheila Barton, Pamela Mahon, Elizabeth M Curtis, Rebecca J Moon, Sarah R Crozier, Hazel M Inskip, Keith M Godfrey, John W Holloway, Cyrus Cooper, Kerry S Jones, Rohan M Lewis, Martin Hewison, Spiros DD Garbis, Miguel R Branco, Nicholas C Harvey, Jane K Cleal

8 March 2022


Summary

This is the first quantitative study demonstrating vitamin D transfer and metabolism by the human placenta, with widespread effects on the placenta itself.

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Distinct infant feeding type-specific plasma metabolites at age 3 months associate with body composition at 2 years

Publication: Clinical Nutrition

Inge A.L.P. van Beijsterveldt, Pernille Neve Myers, Stuart G. Snowden, Ken K. Ong, Susanne Brix, Anita C.S. Hokken-Koelega, Albert Koulman 

21 April 2022


Summary

Early life is a critical window for adiposity programming and metabolic profile may affect this programming. Researchers investigated if plasma metabolites at age 3 months were associated with fat mass, fat free mass and abdominal subcutaneous and visceral fat outcomes at age 2 years in a cohort of healthy infants and if these associations were different between infants receiving exclusive breastfeeding and those with exclusive formula feeding.

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Association of Accelerometer‐Measured Sedentary Accumulation Patterns With Incident Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and All‐Cause Mortality

Publication: Journal of the American Heart Association

Paddy C. Dempsey, Tessa Strain, Elisabeth A. H. Winkler, Kate Westgate, Kirsten L. Rennie, Nicholas J. Wareham, Soren Brage, Katrien Wijndaele

26 April 2022


Summary

Emerging evidence suggests accruing sedentary behavior in relatively more prolonged periods may convey additional cardiometabolic risks, but few studies have examined prospective outcomes. Researchers examined the association of sedentary behavior accumulation patterns with incident cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all‐cause mortality.

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Data Resource Profile: United Kingdom National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (2008-19)

Publication: International Journal of Epidemiology

Michelle Venables, Caireen Roberts, Kerry Jones, Anila Farooq, Albert Koulman, Nick Wareham, Polly Page

28 May 2022


Since 2008, the Government in the United Kingdom has funded a large, annual survey called the National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (NDNS RP) to collect detailed information from people on the foods they are eating and their nutritional health.

The survey is used to monitor how well the UK population is doing in terms of dietary guidelines and inform the development of new nutrition policies. It is also used to monitor chemical exposure risk to protect food safety. In this NIHR Cambridge BRC paper, the authors have provided easy access to comprehensive information about the NDNS for the academic and wider public health community.

The paper describes the data collected in the first 11 years of the NDNS RP, how it has been used, and demonstrates the scope of publicly available data. The authors present an overview of survey methods to collect and analyse the data.

Between 2008 and 2019, 7999 adults and 7656 children completed food diaries; 4181 adults and 2014 children had a blood sample taken; 3246 adults and 2318 children gave a urine sample and 419 adults and 352 children had their energy expenditure measured. The authors explain how NDNS survey reports and data provide information on the foods, calories and nutrients such as fat, sugar and vitamins consumed by the UK population, and how Government use these data in public health campaigns such as the Change4Life, 5 A DAY and sugar reduction and folate fortification policies.

They also highlight that many other institutions and individuals use the survey including international organisations like the World Health Organisation. Reports are published regularly by Government: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey. Anonymised individual data can be accessed from the Data Service and stored blood and urine samples are available for further research via the NDNS Bioresource.

The NDNS RP provides a unique and valuable publicly available resource for the UK Government, researchers, health professionals and others looking to understand and improve population health and nutrition.

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Effects of Limiting Recreational Screen Media Use on Physical Activity and Sleep in Families With Children: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial

Publication: JAMA Pediatrics

Soren Brage

23 May 2022


This was a randomised controlled trial examining the effect of restricting screen use in 89 families living in Denmark. Children in intervention families reduced their objectively measured sedentary time by 45 min/day, which was significantly more than the 1 min/day increase observed in children from control families.

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Association Between Physical Activity and Risk of Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Publication: JAMA Psychiatry

Soren Brage

13 April 2022


Depression is a disorder characterised by persistent sadness and a lack of interest or pleasure in previously enjoyable activities. It is the leading cause of mental health-related disease burden, affecting approximately 1 in 20 adults worldwide. Reviews of the scientific evidence have shown that depression may be prevented by physical activity, but the benefits at different levels of activity are unclear.

The aim of this study was to combine results from previously published studies to estimate the association between different levels of physical activity and depression. We searched medical databases for studies including at least 3000 adults published up until 12th November 2020. The studies had to report the risk of developing depression for at least three different levels of physical activity.

We included studies irrespective of how they measured physical activity. We standardised these measures to a common format so that the published results could be analysed together and make sense on the same physical activity scale. We estimated what proportion of depression cases would have been avoided if all adults in the studies met the current physical activity recommendations. We included 15 studies with 191,130 participants and found that even small doses of physical activity appeared to substantially lower risks of depression. Adults meeting physical activity recommendations (equivalent to 2.5 hrs/week of brisk walking) had 25% lower risk of depression compared with adults reporting no physical activity.

Our findings suggested that most benefits occurred when moving from no activity to at least some, and that only minor additional benefits were achieved by further increasing activity levels. Approximately 1 in 9 cases of depression might have been prevented if everybody in the population was active at the level of current health recommendations.

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Physical activity attenuates but does not eliminate coronary heart disease risk amongst adults with risk factors: EPIC-CVD case-cohort study

Publication: European Journal of Preventive Cardiology

Nita Forouhi, Soren Brage, Nick Wareham

11 April 2022


This study aimed to evaluate the association between physical activity and the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in individuals with and without CHD risk factors. In people with CHD risk factors, moderate physical activity, equivalent to 40 mins of walking per day, attenuates but does not completely offset CHD risk.

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Face Validity of Observed Meal Patterns Reported with 7-Day Diet Diaries in a Large Population-Based Cohort Using Diurnal Variation in Concentration Biomarkers of Dietary Intake

Publication: Nutrients

Marleen A. H. Lentjes, Linda M. Oude Griep, Angela A. Mulligan, Scott Montgomery, Nick J. Wareham and Kay-Tee Khaw

6 January 2022


Summary

Researchers studied how associations between meal patterns and non-fasting triglyceride and glucose concentrations were influenced by the hour of day at which the blood sample was collected to ascertain face validity of reported meal patterns, as well as the influence of reporting bias (assessed using formula of energy expenditure) on this association.

Meal size (i.e., reported energy content), mealtime and meal frequency were reported using pre-structured 7-day diet diaries. Associations between meal patterns and concentration biomarkers can be observed when accounting for diurnal variation and underreporting. These findings support the use of 7-day diet diaries for studying associations between meal patterns and health.

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