Obesity susceptibility loci and uncontrolled eating, emotional eating and cognitive restraint behaviors in men and women.
OBJECTIVE
Many confirmed genetic loci for obesity are expressed in regions of the brain that regulate energy intake and reward-seeking behavior. Whether these loci contribute to the development of specific eating behaviors has not been investigated. The relationship between a genetic susceptibility to obesity and cognitive restraint, uncontrolled and emotional eating was examined.


METHODS
Eating behavior and body mass index (BMI) were determined by questionnaires for 1471 men and 2381 women from two US cohorts. Genotypes were extracted from genome-wide scans and a genetic-risk score (GRS) derived from 32 obesity-loci was calculated.


RESULTS
The GRS was positively associated with emotional and uncontrolled eating (P<0.002). In exploratory analysis, BMI-increasing variants of MTCH2, TNNI3K, and ZC3H4 were positively associated with emotional eating and those of TNNI3K and ZC3H4 were positively associated with uncontrolled eating. The BMI-increasing variant of FTO was positively and those of LRP1B and TFAP2B were inversely associated with cognitive restraint. These associations for single SNPs were independent of BMI but were not significant after multiple-testing correction.


CONCLUSIONS
An overall genetic susceptibility to obesity may also extend to eating behaviors. The link between specific loci and obesity may be mediated by eating behavior but larger studies are warranted to confirm these results.
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Channing Division of Network Medicine Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Marilyn C
MC
Cornelis
Eric B
EB
Rimm
Gary C
GC
Curhan
Peter
P
Kraft
David J
DJ
Hunter
Frank B
FB
Hu
Rob M
RM
van Dam
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004435:Eating / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000235:genetics; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D056426:Genetic Loci; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology