Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Comprehensive study of genetic factors determining individual’s predis...
Coordinator
Analysis of existing data on food consumption, lifestyle and biochemical/genetic parameters in Italian population groups along the lifecycle: elaboration of available datasets providing information on eating and lifestyle habits, accessibility, drivers and barriers towards a healthy diet of defined groups (children, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, older subjects) in connection with Spoke 1.
Development of an ONFOODS cohort (including relevant target groups along the lifecycle) within the geographical area covered by the participant institutions with the aim to systematically assess nutritional status, eating behaviour, physical activity and lifestyle in target populations through the application of shared procedures and questionnaire able to add information lacking from the available datasets and to provide a setting for the validation of possible biomarker (see WP 5.4.) new intervention (in connection with Spoke 4) or educational strategies (in connection with spoke 7).
Definition of the protocols for the acquisition of data and metadata relating to biomarkers of eating habits (identification of the multi-omic protocols of choice for the measurement of food biomarkers, classification of biomarkers according to specific links with diet-related risk factors, definition of criteria for the use of biomarkers for applications in interventions of diet improvement).
Investigations on selected cohorts for the validation of biomarkers in a real-life and life-long environment (biomarkers of adherence to dietary recommendations for children, biomarkers of adherence to dietary recommendations for the elderly, biomarkers of adherence to diet recommendations for pregnant women).
Report on available data and defined network (M18)
Protocols for the definition of nutritional status, eating behaviour, physical activity, and lifestyle (M12)
Report on nutritional status, eating behaviour, physical activity and lifestyle linked to quality of diet, nutrition and adherence to sustainable food patterns (M36)
Classifications of dietary patterns based on biomarkers discovery, and associations with possible diet-related health disorders (M24)
Fact sheets reporting the prevalence of diet-related disorders based on biomarkers among different population groups (M36)
In adults, environmental factors such as unhealthy eating behavior, unhealthy diet, and sedentary lifestyle have contributed to weight gain in 45 percent of the general population by increasing in positive energy balance. The variation in the response of individuals to modern unhealthy lifestyle factors, is wide. Underlying this variable response is a powerful genetic element.
Over the past 20 years, genetic and ‘omics’ approaches have been used to characterize the molecular and physiological mechanisms of food intake control. The best characterized of these circuits is the hypothalamic leptin-melanocortin signalling pathway. In addition, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 300 human genetic loci associated with variations in energy intake and body weight. Therefore, the identification of genetic factors associate to positive energy balance is critical to understand the complex relationship between diet, nutritional status, feeding behaviour phenotype and risk of disease. To better understand individual’s predisposition to positive energy balance and identified strategy prevention, we plan to study the relationship of body composition, eating behavior, dietary intake and lifestyle and gene that are predisposed to positive energy balance.
The research will involve the exploitation of new ONFOODS cohorts (subjects who undergo nutritional characterization in Auxologico Città Studi ICANS) to assess nutritional status, body composition, energy metabolism, eating behavior, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, physical activity, food consumption and nutrient intakes. Moreover, genomic DNA will be extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes using DNA extraction, processed directly from whole blood using Flex Lysis Reagent Ki optimized, and validated for Nextera Flex for Enrichment library preparation (Illumina, San Diego, ca). Data collected will then be analyzed in order to identify single nucleotide variants and small insertions/deletions and to obtain a matrix of genotypes (Plink-format pedigree file).
