Influence of genetic variants associated with body mass index on eating behavior in childhood

Childhood eating behaviors are associated with body mass index (BMI). Recent genome-wide association studies have identified many single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with adult and childhood BMI. This study hypothesized that these SNPs also influence eating behavior.

In a population-based prospective cohort study among 3,031 children (mean age [standard deviation]: 4.0 [0.1] years), two weighted genetic risk scores, based on 15 childhood and 97 adult BMI SNPs, and ten individual appetite- and/or satiety-related SNPs were tested for association with food fussiness, food responsiveness, enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness, and slowness in eating.

The 15 SNP-based childhood BMI genetic risk score was not associated with the eating behavior subscales. The 97 SNP-based adult BMI genetic risk score was nominally associated with satiety responsiveness (β: -0.007 standard deviation, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.013, 0.000). Of the 10 individual SNPs, rs11030104 in BDNF and rs10733682 in LMX1B were nominally associated with satiety responsiveness (β: -0.057 standard deviation, 95% CI -0.112, -0.002).

These findings do not strongly support the hypothesis that BMI-associated SNPs also influence eating behavior at this age. A potential role for BMI SNPs in satiety responsiveness during childhood was observed; however, no associations with the other eating behavior subscales were found.