Genetic variation shapes individual perception of fatty foods

Date:
July 13, 2020
Source:
Monell Chemical Senses Center
Summary:
Most people would agree that the pleasure of some foods stems in
part from its fat content. New research has now found that liking
of fatty food is more complex than its fat content alone -- it
could also be related to inborn genetic traits of the consumer
related to fat perception.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Most people would agree that the pleasure of some foods stems in part
from its fat content. New research, led by the Monell Chemical Senses
Center, has now found that liking of fatty food is more complex than
its fat content alone - - it could also be related to inborn genetic
traits of the consumer related to fat perception. The team published
their findings in Chemical Senses.


========================================================================== "Person-to-person diversity in the positive perception of fattiness
derives partially from an individual's genetic make-up," said senior
author Danielle Reed, PhD, Monell Associate Director. "How the taste,
smell, and flavor of food and drink affect liking, and therefore the
amount and type of food consumed, ultimately affects human health."
The team tested adult identical and fraternal twins in 2018 who
attended the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, OH. "We asked the participants to rate low- and high-fat potato chips and report on how
fatty they tasted and how much they liked them," said Reed. Participants
also spit into a tube so their DNA could be extracted. Their genotype
was determined at hundreds of thousands of locations in their genome.

Many previous studies using model solutions for greater experimental
control have tried to link perception to liking but often failed to
translate their data to real foods, noted co-author John Hayes, PhD,
a Professor of Food Science at the Pennsylvania State University. This
study added a real food - - potato chips -- to the experiment's design
to overcome this limitation.

Genetically identical twins were more similar in their pattern of liking
for the high- and low-fat potato chips compared with the fraternal
twins. By comparing the taste-test results from other pairs of twins
with similar genotype, the team identified two specific gene variants
that correlated with the twins' ratings of liking. Neither of these
genes has been previously tied to the perception of fattiness.

Although fat is nearly universally liked in foods, some people may
be born with the genetic tendency to prefer foods higher or lower in
fat. The team's next steps, including understanding how universal these
genetic influences might be, will be to test people worldwide and with different types of fat in many different foods, such as pizza, muffins,
and ice-cream.

Flavor is only one of many factors that drive everyday food choices,
including cost, availability, and health. "Most people assume more liking drives more intake, but decades of research tell us the reverse is true
-- we avoid what we don't like," said Hayes. "I may love bacon, but if
I listen to my cardiologist, I'm still not going to eat it every morning."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Monell_Chemical_Senses_Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Danielle R Reed, Antonio Sullo, John E Hayes, Aure'lie Miclo, Dennis
Brooks, Louise Slade, Lydia Fomuso, Paule Joseph, Ivy Maina,
Federica Genovese, Nancy E Rawson, Paul A S Breslin, Paul Wise,
Lauren Colquitt, Cailu Lin. Studies of Human Twins Reveal Genetic
Variation That Affects Dietary Fat Perception. Chemical Senses,
2020; 45 (6): 467 DOI: 10.1093/ chemse/bjaa036 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200713165606.htm

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