Aim: To investigate the association between GCKR gene and nutritional treatment in NAFLD-related biomarkers.
Methods: This was an open-label and single-arm clinical trial in 44 overweight or obese adults with NAFLD receiving nutritional counseling for 6 months. Nutritional data, MedDietScore, clinical, biochemical, inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers were evaluated before and after intervention. Further, we genotyped GCKR rs1260326 and in T-allele carriers and non-Τ-carriers we assessed associations between the GCKR variant and nutritional counseling related to change in all biomarkers evaluated.
Results: Anthropometric measurements were significantly reduced after the end of the intervention in patients assigned to nutritional counseling. Liver imaging and fibrosis were significantly improved. GCKR rs1260326 T-allele frequency was 46.7%. T-carriers responded better to nutritional counseling regarding fasting blood glucose levels (mean6-0 change = -4.94 mg/dL (±9.33), p = 0.005), whereas non-T-carriers did not benefit from the intervention regarding glucose. On the other hand, levels of oxLDL decreased in the non-T-carriers group after the intervention, but not in T-carriers.
Conclusions: Our results show that GCKR rs1260326 T-allele is associated with better response of NAFLD patients to nutritional treatment regarding fasting blood glucose, but not oxLDL levels. Despite this important finding in the field of nutrigenetics, it is tricky to generalize this effect unless larger studies are conducted.
Keywords: Counseling; Fasting glucose; GCKR; Genetics; NAFLD; Nutrition; Response; oxLDL.