Transcriptional expression of CAV1 is associated with dietary patterns, quality diet, physical activity, and alcoholism in adults with excess body weight, and comorbidities from Cartagena, Colombia

Background: Excess body adiposity has pandemic dimensions, and is the main risk factor for the increased prevalence of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and various cancers around the world. Therefore, overweight and obesity were included in the World Health Organization's sustainable development goals for 2030. In this context, a growing body of basic experimental and clinical evidence suggests that the expression of CAV1 and the caveolin-1 protein in adipose tissue would be associated with the development of adipogenesis and obesity. However, the available evidence about CAV1 expression in human obesity appears controversial because it has not been analyzed in the context of environmental risk factors. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Proportionally stratified probability sampling. The main objective was to evaluate associations between transcriptional expression of CAV1 in blood serum of adults from Cartagena in states of normal-weight, overweight, and obesity, by severity of obesity, and comorbidities with dietary quality, dietary patterns, smoking, alcoholism, physical activity, blood biochemistry, and with cardiovascular risk (CVR) by anthropometry, and CVR by the Framingham International and Colombia scales. Models by Multiple Linear Regression, and Multiple Logistic Regression were applied in search of associations. Results: CAV1 is overexpressed in all groups, with a tendency to increase with increasing BMI. A good-quality diet, weekly alcohol intake, and moderate-intensity physical exercise were associated with reduced CAV1 expression, while poor- and regular-quality diets, and Western and Mediterranean dietary patterns were associated with increased CAV1 expression. Conclusions: The degree of transcriptional expression of CAV1 in blood serum of adults from Cartagena, would be determined in part by the delicate balance between the increase and decrease of each specific dietary component consumed, represented as dietary pattern and dietary quality, as well as determined by other environmental factors such as physical activity, alcoholism, which together would contribute to the generalized adipogenesis, and finally, excess body adiposity.