Polygenic risk for poor appetite or overeating and for alcohol use influence emotional eating and alcohol consumption

Emotional eating and alcohol consumption are complex and multifactorial behaviors which are influenced by biological and psychological factors. Genetic predisposition to eating- and alcohol-related behaviors has previously been derived from broad, self-reported phenotypes. However, the association between such genetic predisposition and more refined measures based on validated questionnaires and clinical assessment of pre-diagnostic symptoms remains unclear. We examined whether two broad, nonspecific polygenic risk scores for poor appetite or overeating (PAO-PGS) and alcohol use (AU-PGS) are associated with emotional eating and habitual alcohol consumption. The study included 1252 adults with overweight or obesity from the ONTIME study. We used two different questionnaires (the Emotional-Eating Questionnaire, EEQ and the Eating-relatedBehaviors and Emotions questionnaire) and 24h recall for alcohol consumption. Higher PAO-PGS and AU-PGS were associated with greater emotional eating (β = 0.41, p = 0.025) and greater risky alcohol consumption (OR = 1.22, p = 0.044), respectively. Further subcomponents of the EEQ such as greater disinhibition and food craving were also associated with higher PAO-PGS. Interestingly, the "eating-related behaviors and emotions score" was associated with genetic predisposition to alcohol use. In addition, minor allele carriers of specific genetic variants (FTO, MC4R, DRD2, and CTNNA2) were associated with specific characteristics of emotional eating and alcohol risk. These results provide novel evidence that polygenic scores for poor appetite or overeating and alcohol use are associated with emotion-driven eating and habitual alcohol consumption. Exploratory results point to CTNNA2 as a new candidate gene for food craving. Integrating genetic profiles into behavioral nutrition research may help identify individuals with higher vulnerability to maladaptive eating and drinking patterns. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02829619.