Relation between food reinforcement and dopamine genotypes and its effect on food intake in smokers

Food reinforcement and dopaminergic activity may influence food consumption, but research on whether they interact has not been performed.

We assessed the effects of food reinforcement and the interaction of food reinforcement with the dopamine transporter (SLC6A3) genotype and the dopamine D(2) receptor (DRD(2)) genotype on energy consumption.

We studied food-consumption and reinforcing-value-of-food tasks in 88 smokers of European ancestry before they enrolled in smoking-cessation treatment. In the food-consumption task, subjects tasted and consumed 8 snack foods ad libitum. The reinforcing-value-of-food task assessed how hard subjects would work for food.

Significant interactions between dopamine genotypes and food reinforcement were observed. Subjects high in food reinforcement who lacked an SLC6A3*9 allele consumed significantly more calories (>150 kcal; P = 0.015) than did subjects low in food reinforcement or those high in food reinforcement who carried at least one SLC6A3*9 allele. Similarly, subjects high in food reinforcement who carried at least one DRD(2)*A1 allele consumed >130 kcal more (P = 0.021) than did subjects low in food reinforcement or those high in food reinforcement who lacked a DRD(2)*A1 allele. There was also a main effect of food reinforcement on energy intake (P = 0.005), with subjects high in food reinforcement consuming 104 kcal (or 30%) more than did subjects low in food reinforcement.

Food reinforcement has a significant effect on energy intake, and the effect is moderated by the dopamine loci SLC6A3 and DRD(2).