Effects of genetic disclosure based on gene polymorphisms in TAS1R2 (rs12033832) and UCP-2 (rs659366) on sugar restriction

High sugar intake is one of the factors that may contribute to rising obesity and type 2 diabetes, hence changing one’s lifestyle is necessary. It is known that single nucleotide polymorphism in TAS1R2 (rs12033832) associates with one’s sugar intake, whereas rs659366 in UCP-2 associates with diabetes risk. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of genetic disclosure based on rs12033832 and rs659366 in health programs to the sugar restriction. Participants (n = 41) were Indonesians who underwent a 14-day health transformation program in which they were divided into two groups, control (without genetic disclosure) and genetic disclosure (GD) group. It was observed that both groups significantly reduced their sugar intake (g/day), in the control group (49.75±19.18 vs 32.04±20.14; p-value = 0.009) and the GD group (49.1±18.48 vs 33.92±13.93; p-value = 0.002). Moreover, participants who possessed a high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were shown to significantly reduce their sugar intake (48±21.39 vs 31.06±12.12; p-value = 0.003), whereas the decrease in the low-risk group was not significant. The proportion of participants who exceed daily dose recommendation (>50 g/day) decreased as well from 50% to 38% (p = 0.047) in the control group, whilst the GD group decreased from 38% to 9.5% (p = 0.030). These findings demonstrated that there were positive impacts from the program regarding the sugar restriction regardless of genetic disclosure. Nevertheless, health programs with genetic disclosure could be more valuable than general health programs.