Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.)Mar 16, 2018

More common FTO gene risk types and Staphylococcus aureus in saliva of obese women in Croatia

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Updated Apr 1, 2026

Abstract

A significant 39.13% of obese women were found to be triple homozygous for three high-risk variants of the FTO gene.

Analysis of 3 FTO gene variants revealed statistically significant positive correlations with obesity in women.
Higher frequencies of the high-risk genotypes AA rs9939609, CC rs1421085, and GG rs17817449 were observed in obese individuals.
The oral microbiota of obese women exhibited a greater presence of Staphylococcus aureus and a lower presence of Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus mitis, and Serratia ureilytica compared to the control group.
Obese women reported dietary preferences for candy, snacks, and meat products, alongside sleeping less than 6 hours per day.
Hypertension was more prevalent among obese women than in the control group, suggesting a possible link to dietary habits.

Simplified

Obesity is composed of multifunctional interactions of eating habits, behaviors, microbiota, genetics, and other unknown factors. We hypothesize that correlations occur between the fat mass and obesity-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (FTO SNPs), the composition of microorganisms in the saliva, and life habits in obese women from Zagreb County. Our results of the analysis of 3 FTO SNPs showed a statistically significant positive correlation among the frequencies of the high-risk genotypes AA rs9939609 (P = .0367), CC rs1421085 (P = .0367), and GG rs17817449 (P = .0065) of the FTO gene in obese cases. Interestingly, 39.13% of obese women were triple homozygous for all 3 risk alleles. Furthermore, the composition of the oral microbiota in the obese group showed a higher occurrence of a major human pathogen, bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, but a significantly low presence of bacteria Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus mitis, and Serratia ureilytica compared with the control group. The investigation also revealed that obese women prefer to consume candy and snacks and more meat and meat-derived products, sleep less than 6 hours per day, and had higher hypertension in comparison with the control group. These results support the hypothesis that female obesity is strongly related to all 3 variants of the FTO gene and perhaps a specific composition of microbiota in saliva due to dietary habits. Considering the bimodal distribution of the SNPs and bacterial content of saliva in obese women taken together are factors to consider for risk of obesity.

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More common FTO gene risk types and Staphylococcus aureus in saliva of obese women in Croatia

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