title: Genetic risk for obesity predicts nucleus accumbens size and responsivity to real-world food cues.
abstract: Obesity is a major public health concern that involves an interaction between genetic susceptibility and exposure to environmental cues (e.g., food marketing); however, the mechanisms that link these factors and contribute to unhealthy eating are unclear. Using a well-known obesity risk polymorphism (FTO rs9939609) in a sample of 78 children (ages 9-12 y), we observed that children at risk for obesity exhibited stronger responses to food commercials in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) than children not at risk. Similarly, children at a higher genetic risk for obesity demonstrated larger NAcc volumes. Although a recessive model of this polymorphism best predicted body mass and adiposity, a dominant model was most predictive of NAcc size and responsivity to food cues. These findings suggest that children genetically at risk for obesity are predisposed to represent reward signals more strongly, which, in turn, may contribute to unhealthy eating behaviors later in life.
authors.affiliation: Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755; Kristina.M.Rapuano.GR@Dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: Kristina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Rapuano
authors.affiliation: Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755.
authors.forename: Amanda L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Zieselman
authors.affiliation: Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755.
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Kelley
authors.affiliation: Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH 03756.|Department of Pediatrics, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sargent
authors.affiliation: Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755.|Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH 03756.
authors.forename: Todd F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Heatherton
authors.affiliation: Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH 03756.|Department of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH 03755.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3560-7171
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gilbert-Diamond
mesh_terms: D000071516:Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012201:Reward
chemical_list: D000071516:Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO; C526492:FTO protein, human
keywords: brain morphometry; fMRI; genetic risk; obesity; reward