Fruit and vegetable intake modifies the associations between suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 genetic variants and type 2 diabetes

Purpose Type 2 diabetes is a complex disease determined by variable genes and environmental factors. The study was designed to investigate the effect of interactions of four polymorphisms of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 ( SOCS3 ) with fruit and vegetable (F&V) intake on type 2 diabetes in a rural population of China. Methods A total of 4411 participants from the rural areas of Henan, China were included in the study. Multivariate logistic regression and restricted cubic splines were used to estimate the associations between polymorphisms and risk allele score of SOCS3 and type 2 diabetes in different groups. Haplotype analysis was conducted to examine the effects of linkage inheritance at these four loci on type 2 diabetes. Results Three of the four polymorphisms showed significant associations with type 2 diabetes in the less F&V intake group after adjusting the covariates, the odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were 1.24 (1.08–1.41) for rs4969168, 1.16 (1.02–1.32) for rs9892622, and 1.21 (1.06–1.39) for rs9914220. No significant association was detected in the more F&V intake group. The obvious dose–response relationship between the risk allele score and type 2 diabetes was also noted only in the less F&V intake group. Conclusions Variants of SOCS3 gene were associated with type 2 diabetes and the associations could be modified by the F&V intake.