Genetic Epidemiology, Translational Neurogenomics, Psychiatric Genetics and Statistical Genetics Laboratories investigate the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems.
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PMID
27492574
TITLE
Sweet Taste Perception is Associated with Body Mass Index at the Phenotypic and Genotypic Level.
ABSTRACT
NlmCategory: UNASSIGNED
Investigations on the relationship between sweet taste perception and body mass index (BMI) have been inconclusive. Here, we report a longitudinal analysis using a genetically informative sample of 1,576 adolescent Australian twins to explore the relationship between BMI and sweet taste. First, we estimated the phenotypic correlations between perception scores for four different sweet compounds (glucose, fructose, neohesperidine dihydrochalcone (NHDC), and aspartame) and BMI. Then, we computed the association between adolescent taste perception and BMI in early adulthood (reported 9 years later). Finally, we used twin modeling and polygenic risk prediction analysis to investigate the genetic overlap between BMI and sweet taste perception. Our findings revealed that BMI in early adulthood was significantly associated with each of the sweet perception scores, with the strongest correlation observed in aspartame with r = 0.09 (p = .007). However, only limited evidence of association was observed between sweet taste perception and BMI that was measured at the same time (in adolescence), with the strongest evidence of association observed for glucose with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.06 (p = .029) and for aspartame with r = 0.06 (p = .035). We found a significant (p < .05) genetic correlation between glucose and NHDC perception and BMI. Our analyses suggest that sweet taste perception in adolescence can be a potential indicator of BMI in early adulthood. This association is further supported by evidence of genetic overlap between the traits, suggesting that some BMI genes may be acting through biological pathways of taste perception.
DATE PUBLISHED
2016 Aug 5
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
entrez 2016/08/06 06:00
pubmed 2016/08/06 06:00
medline 2016/08/06 06:00
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Hwang LD Hwang Liang-Dar LD QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute,Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
Cuellar-Partida G Cuellar-Partida Gabriel G QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute,Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
Ong JS Ong Jue-Sheng JS QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute,Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
Breslin PA Breslin Paul A S PA Monell Chemical Senses Center,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,USA.
Reed DR Reed Danielle R DR Monell Chemical Senses Center,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,USA.
MacGregor S MacGregor Stuart S QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute,Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
Gharahkhani P Gharahkhani Puya P QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute,Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
Martin NG Martin Nicholas G NG QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute,Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
Rentería ME Rentería Miguel E ME QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute,Brisbane,Queensland,Australia.
INVESTIGATORS
JOURNAL
VOLUME:
ISSUE:
TITLE: Twin research and human genetics : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies
ISOABBREVIATION: Twin Res Hum Genet
YEAR: 2016
MONTH: Aug
DAY: 5
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Internet
ISSN: 1832-4274
ISSNTYPE: Electronic
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Twin Res Hum Genet
COUNTRY: England
ISSNLINKING: 1832-4274
NLMUNIQUEID: 101244624
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
JOURNAL ARTICLE
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
GRANTS
GENERAL NOTE
KEYWORDS
KEYWORD
BMI
genetic risk
longitudinal analysis
sweetness
taste perception
twin study
MESH HEADINGS
SUPPLEMENTARY MESH
GENE SYMBOLS
CHEMICALS
OTHER ID's