ORCID

0000-0001-7421-3381 (Al-Taiar)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1002/osp4.70112

Publication Title

Obesity Science & Practice

Volume

12

Issue

1

Pages

e70112

Abstract

Background and Objective: Obesity affects 18%-25% of adolescents globally and represents a major public health challenge. Genetic factors contribute to obesity susceptibility, with the FTO gene variant rs9939609 consistently associated with obesity in adults; however, evidence in adolescents is limited. This study examined the association between FTO and obesity traits in adolescents and explored potential interactions with vitamin D status.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 509 adolescents aged 10-15 years were genotyped for FTO rs9939609. Obesity traits, including BMI, BMI z-score, and waist circumference, were assessed. Associations with genotype were analyzed using an additive genetic model, and potential interactions with vitamin D status were evaluated.

Results: The A allele was significantly associated with higher adiposity: BMI (β = 1.29 kg/m², p = 0.0008) and waist circumference (β = 3.24 cm, p = 0.001). Each additional risk allele increased the odds of having overweight or obesity by 53% (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.19-1.98, p = 0.001). No significant interaction was observed between FTO and vitamin D status (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: This first report from the Arabian Gulf region confirms the association between FTO rs9939609 and adiposity in adolescents, underscoring the contribution of genetic factors to obesity risk in young populations.

Rights

© 2025 The Authors.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Data Availability

Article states: "All of the data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article. Further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author."

Original Publication Citation

Al-Serri, A., Al-Temaimi, R. A., Al-Taiar, A., Shaban, L., Al-Sabah, R., Rahman, A., & Ziyab, A. H. (2026). A cross-sectional study investigating the relationship between the FTO gene polymorphism in relation to obesity traits and vitamin D status in adolescence. Obesity Science & Practice, 12(1), 1-7, Article e70112. https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.70112

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