Dietary acid load adopts the effect of ApoB ins/del genetic variant (rs11279109) on obesity trait, cardiovascular markers, lipid profile, and serum leptin level among patients with diabetes: a cross-sectional study

ApoB insertion/deletion (ins/del) genetic variant (rs11279109) is thought to be related to cardio-metabolic markers and obesity. This association has the potential to be modified by dietary patterns. Since the majority of studies concerned the role of dietary acid load (DAL) or ApoB in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its complications independently, and due to the insufficient data regarding the possible interactions between ApoB genetic variants and DAL on anthropometric and metabolic markers, we aimed to study the interaction between this genetic variant and dietary acid load (DAL) on cardio-metabolic markers, along with leptin among Iranian individuals with T2DM. 700 T2DM patients were randomly recruited. A validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used for DAL calculation including potential renal acid load (PRAL) and net-endogenous acid production (NEAP). The polymerase chain reaction was used for genotyping the ApoB ins/del (rs11279109). The general linear model was applied to find the interactions in the crude and adjusted models. Patients with del/del genotype (rs11279109) with high PRAL intake have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P_interaction = 0.004), LDL/HDL ratio (P_interaction = 0.02), total cholesterol (TC) (P_interaction = 0.04), triglyceride (TG) (P_interaction = 0.04), leptin (P_interaction = 0.04) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) (P_interaction = 0.04). Moreover, the interaction of gene and DAL in the PRAL method on TG concentration (P = 0.04), waist circumference (WC) (P = 0.04), and LDL/HDL ratio (P = 0.04) were significant. Eventually, a positive relationship was observed between the presence of the del/del genotype (rs11279109) and higher levels of TG, TC, LDL-C, IL-18, and LDL/HDL, in individuals with lower adherence to DAL, after adjusting for various covariates. Further studies are needed to investigate and confirm these findings.