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Effect modification of FADS2 polymorphisms on the association between breastfeeding and intelligence: results from a collaborative meta-analysis.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hartwig, FP; Davies, NM; Horta, BL; Ahluwalia, TS; Bisgaard, H; Bønnelykke, K; Caspi, A; Moffitt, TE; Poulton, R; Sajjad, A; Tiemeier, HW ...
Published in: International journal of epidemiology
February 2019

Accumulating evidence suggests that breastfeeding benefits children's intelligence, possibly due to long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) present in breast milk. Under a nutritional adequacy hypothesis, an interaction between breastfeeding and genetic variants associated with endogenous LC-PUFAs synthesis might be expected. However, the literature on this topic is controversial.We investigated this gene × environment interaction through a collaborative effort. The primary analysis involved >12 000 individuals and used ever breastfeeding, FADS2 polymorphisms rs174575 and rs1535 coded assuming a recessive effect of the G allele, and intelligence quotient (IQ) in Z scores.There was no strong evidence of interaction, with pooled covariate-adjusted interaction coefficients (i.e. difference between genetic groups of the difference in IQ Z scores comparing ever with never breastfed individuals) of 0.12[(95% confidence interval (CI): -0.19; 0.43] and 0.06 (95% CI: -0.16; 0.27) for the rs174575 and rs1535 variants, respectively. Secondary analyses corroborated these results. In studies with ≥5.85 and <5.85 months of breastfeeding duration, pooled estimates for the rs174575 variant were 0.50 (95% CI: -0.06; 1.06) and 0.14 (95% CI: -0.10; 0.38), respectively, and 0.27 (95% CI: -0.28; 0.82) and -0.01 (95% CI: -0.19; 0.16) for the rs1535 variant.Our findings did not support an interaction between ever breastfeeding and FADS2 polymorphisms. However, subgroup analysis suggested that breastfeeding may supply LC-PUFAs requirements for cognitive development if breastfeeding lasts for some (currently unknown) time. Future studies in large individual-level datasets would allow properly powered subgroup analyses and further improve our understanding on the breastfeeding × FADS2 interaction.

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Published In

International journal of epidemiology

DOI

EISSN

1464-3685

ISSN

0300-5771

Publication Date

February 2019

Volume

48

Issue

1

Start / End Page

45 / 57

Related Subject Headings

  • Polymorphism, Genetic
  • Male
  • Linear Models
  • Intelligence Tests
  • Intelligence
  • Humans
  • Genotype
  • Female
  • Fatty Acid Desaturases
  • Epidemiology
 

Citation

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Hartwig, F. P., Davies, N. M., Horta, B. L., Ahluwalia, T. S., Bisgaard, H., Bønnelykke, K., … Victora, C. G. (2019). Effect modification of FADS2 polymorphisms on the association between breastfeeding and intelligence: results from a collaborative meta-analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology, 48(1), 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyy273
Hartwig, Fernando Pires, Neil Martin Davies, Bernardo Lessa Horta, Tarunveer S. Ahluwalia, Hans Bisgaard, Klaus Bønnelykke, Avshalom Caspi, et al. “Effect modification of FADS2 polymorphisms on the association between breastfeeding and intelligence: results from a collaborative meta-analysis.International Journal of Epidemiology 48, no. 1 (February 2019): 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyy273.
Hartwig FP, Davies NM, Horta BL, Ahluwalia TS, Bisgaard H, Bønnelykke K, et al. Effect modification of FADS2 polymorphisms on the association between breastfeeding and intelligence: results from a collaborative meta-analysis. International journal of epidemiology. 2019 Feb;48(1):45–57.
Hartwig, Fernando Pires, et al. “Effect modification of FADS2 polymorphisms on the association between breastfeeding and intelligence: results from a collaborative meta-analysis.International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 48, no. 1, Feb. 2019, pp. 45–57. Epmc, doi:10.1093/ije/dyy273.
Hartwig FP, Davies NM, Horta BL, Ahluwalia TS, Bisgaard H, Bønnelykke K, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Poulton R, Sajjad A, Tiemeier HW, Dalmau-Bueno A, Guxens M, Bustamante M, Santa-Marina L, Parker N, Paus T, Pausova Z, Lauritzen L, Schnurr TM, Michaelsen KF, Hansen T, Oddy W, Pennell CE, Warrington NM, Davey Smith G, Victora CG. Effect modification of FADS2 polymorphisms on the association between breastfeeding and intelligence: results from a collaborative meta-analysis. International journal of epidemiology. 2019 Feb;48(1):45–57.
Journal cover image

Published In

International journal of epidemiology

DOI

EISSN

1464-3685

ISSN

0300-5771

Publication Date

February 2019

Volume

48

Issue

1

Start / End Page

45 / 57

Related Subject Headings

  • Polymorphism, Genetic
  • Male
  • Linear Models
  • Intelligence Tests
  • Intelligence
  • Humans
  • Genotype
  • Female
  • Fatty Acid Desaturases
  • Epidemiology