title: Appetitive traits as behavioural pathways in genetic susceptibility to obesity: a population-based cross-sectional study.
abstract: The mechanisms through which genes influence body weight are not well understood, but appetite has been implicated as one mediating pathway. Here we use data from two independent population-based Finnish cohorts (4632 adults aged 25-74 years from the DILGOM study and 1231 twin individuals aged 21-26 years from the FinnTwin12 study) to investigate whether two appetitive traits mediate the associations between known obesity-related genetic variants and adiposity. The results from structural equation modelling indicate that the effects of a polygenic risk score (90 obesity-related loci) on measured body mass index and waist circumference are partly mediated through higher levels of uncontrolled eating (βindirect = 0.030-0.032, P < 0.001 in DILGOM) and emotional eating (βindirect = 0.020-0.022, P < 0.001 in DILGOM and βindirect = 0.013-0.015, P = 0.043-0.044 in FinnTwin12). Our findings suggest that genetic predispositions to obesity may partly exert their effects through appetitive traits reflecting lack of control over eating or eating in response to negative emotions. Obesity prevention and treatment studies should examine the impact of targeting these eating behaviours, especially among individuals having a high genetic predisposition to obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Konttinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Llewellyn
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wardle
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Karri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Silventoinen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Anni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joensuu
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Satu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Männistö
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Veikko
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Salomaa
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jousilahti
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jaakko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaprio
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.|Diabetes and Obesity Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.|Estonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perola
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haukkala
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D001066:Appetite; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D020412:Multifactorial Inheritance; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult