Vitamin D Levels, Frequency of Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms, and Associations with Overweight and Asthma in Brazilian Schoolchildren

• Published in: Annals of nutrition and metabolism 2019-01, Vol.75 (4), p.238-245
• Main Authors: Simões, Tania Mara Rodrigues, da Silva, Rosangela, Bianco, Bianca, Fonseca, Fernando Luiz Affonso, Solé, Dirceu, Oselka, Roseli, Sarni, Saccardo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alfacalcidol; Alleles; Asthma; Asthma in children; Body weight; Calcifediol; Calciferol; Children; Children & youth; Complications and side effects; Demographic aspects; Elementary school students; Eutrophication; Evaluation; Gene polymorphism; Genetic aspects; Genetic polymorphisms; Genotype & phenotype; Genotypes; Haplotypes; Health aspects; Human Nutrition: Research Article; Human Nutrition: Research Articles; Nutritional status; Obesity in children; Overweight; Polymorphism; Receptors; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Vitamin D; Vitamin D receptors
• ISSN: 0250-6807; 1421-9697
• DOI: 10.1159/000504872

Background: In children, nutritional status of vitamin D (vitD), frequency of vitD receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and their associations with overweight and asthma remain controversial. Objectives: To evaluate the nutritional status of vitD and the frequency of VDR gene polymorphisms, as well as identify their associations with nutritional status and asthma. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with schoolchildren (n = 262; mean age = 8.7 ± 1.3 years). Clinical history, anthropometric measurements, and serum 25-hydroxy vitD were evaluated. Four VDR gene polymorphisms were identified and genotypes, alleles, and haplotypes were calculated. Results: The serum vitD levels were found at 85.1%, within normal range. The FokI AA genotype was more frequent in asthmatics compared to healthy controls (10 vs. 1%, p < 0.05), while the GG genotype was less frequent (45.0 vs. 55.2%, p < 0.05). The frequency of the TT allele for the ApaI was higher among asthmatic eutrophic children (60.9 vs. 29.4%, p < 0.05) and that of the TT allele for the BsmI was higher among asthmatic overweight children (35.3 vs. 4.4%, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Insufficiency in vitD was low. Two wild-type alleles (AA) of FokI were identified as risk factor for the development of asthma, while GG alleles appears to be a protective factor. To have polymorphic alleles (TT) of ApaI seems to be a risk factor for asthma in children with normal weight, while that of BsmI seems to be a risk factor for asthma in overweight condition. Serum vitD was not different among analyzed genotypes.