AUTHOR=Yeum Dabin , Renier Timothy J. , Carlson Delaina D. , Ballarino Grace A. , Lansigan Reina K. , Meyer Meghan L. , Loos Ruth J. F. , Emond Jennifer A. , Masterson Travis D. , Gilbert-Diamond Diane 

TITLE=Genetic associations with neural reward responsivity to food cues in children

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1387514

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2024.1387514

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Objective</title><p>To test associations of candidate obesity-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and obesity polygenic risk scores (PRS) with neural reward reactivity to food cues.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods</title><p>After consuming a pre-load meal, 9–12-year-old children completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm with exposure to food and non-food commercials. Genetic exposures included <italic>FTO</italic> rs9939609, <italic>MC4R</italic> rs571312, and a pediatric-specific obesity PRS. A targeted region-of-interest (ROI) analysis for 7 bilateral reward regions and a whole-brain analysis were conducted. Independent associations between each genetic factor and reward responsivity to food cues in each ROI were evaluated using linear models.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>Analyses included 151 children (<italic>M</italic> = 10.9 years). Each <italic>FTO</italic> rs9939609 obesity risk allele was related to a higher food-cue-related response in the right lateral hypothalamus after controlling for covariates including the current BMI <italic>Z</italic>-score <italic>(p</italic> &lt; 0.01), however, the association did not remain significant after applying the multiple testing correction. <italic>MC4R</italic> rs571312 and the PRS were not related to heightened food-cue-related reward responsivity in any examined regions. The whole-brain analysis did not identify additional regions of food-cue-related response related to the examined genetic factors.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Children genetically at risk for obesity, as indicated by the <italic>FTO</italic> genotype, may be predisposed to higher food-cue-related reward responsivity in the lateral hypothalamus in the sated state, which, in turn, could contribute to overconsumption.</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Clinical trial registration</title><p><uri xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03766191" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03766191</uri>, identifier NCT03766191.</p></sec>