image: Differences in mean log-transformed serum total cholesterol (TC) levels (mg/dL) by diet quality score (DQS) levels and 3-SNP genetic risk score (GRS) groups. The DQS levels are low (DQS < 68.65), medium (DQS = 68.66–87.87) and high (DQS > 87.88). White bars represent individuals in the low GRS group (GRS ≤ 1 risk allele), and black bars represent those in the high GRS group (GRS > 1 risk allele). Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean. Significant differences in serum cholesterol levels between GRS groups were observed at the low DQS level (p < 0.001) but not at the medium (p = 0.521) or high (p = 0.621) DQS levels. The interaction between DQS levels and GRS groups was significant (pinteraction = 0.003).
Credit: Bineid et al., 2026, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
A poor-quality diet might exacerbate the effect of genetic predisposition to diabetes, stroke and heart attack in Asian Indian populations, per study of 1,020 men and women from Chennai.
Article URL: https://plos.io/4dB3819
Article title: Low diet quality increases the genetic risk of high blood cholesterol levels in Asian Indian adults [CURES – 165]
Author countries: UK, Saudi Arabia, India.
Funding: K.S.V. acknowledges support from the British Nutrition Foundation and the Ministry of Higher Education of Saudi Arabia for the scholarship (awarded to M.M.B). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS One
Article Title
Low diet quality increases the genetic risk of high blood cholesterol levels in Asian Indian adults [CURES – 165]
Article Publication Date
14-Oct-2026
COI Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.