Can high calcium and whey protein diet affect adipose tissue gene expression?

Effect of Dietary Calcium and Dairy
Proteins on the Adipose Tissue Gene
Expression Profile in Diet-Induced
Obesity
J Nutrigenet Nutrigenomics 2008;1:240–251

Taru K. Pilvi a, b Markus Storvik c, d Marjut Louhelainen a Saara Merasto a
Riitta Korpela a, b Eero M. Mervaala a, c


Abstract:
Background/Aims: Calcium and dairy proteins have been
postulated to explain why the intake of dairy products correlates
inversely with body mass index in several populations.
We have shown that a high-calcium diet with whey
protein attenuates weight gain and now we describe the effects
of this diet on adipose tissue gene expression.
Methods:
Nine-week-old C57Bl/6J mice were divided into two
groups (n = 10/group). The control diet was a standard highfat
diet (60% of energy) low in calcium (0.4%). The whey protein
diet was a high-calcium (1.8%), high-fat diet with whey
protein. After the 21-week treatment, adipose tissue transcript
profiling (2 mice/group) was performed using Affymetrix
Mouse Genome 430 2.0.
Results:
The high-calcium diet
with whey protein altered the expression of 129 genes ( 8 1.2
fold). Quantitative RT-PCR analysis confirmed the significant
up-regulation of Adrb3 (p = 0.002) and leptin (p = 0.0019) in
the high-calcium whey group. Insulin and adipocytokine
signaling pathways were enriched among the up-regulated genes
and the fatty acid metabolism pathway among the
down-regulated genes.
Conclusions:
High-calcium diet
with whey protein significantly modifies adipose tissue gene
expression. These preliminary findings reveal that targets of
a high-calcium diet with whey protein include genes for
Adrb3 and leptin, and help to explain how the intake of dairy
products might attenuate obesity.