Genetic and Environmental Influences on Individual Sweet Preference Across Ancestry Groups in the U.S.

Brooklyn College, New York NY

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Abstract

Overconsumption of sugar is associated with obesity and related chronic disease, which in turn cost ~300,000 lives and ~$546 billion annually in the United States alone. Leading health agencies recommend reducing intake of added sugars, but pleasure from sweetness may hinder the effort to achieve this goal. A person’s preference for sweetness is determined by both genetic and environmental factors, and therefore, understanding these factors is a key step towards devising personalized strategies to reduce sugar consumption. While several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified to be associated with sweet preference within individuals of one ancestry in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), whether these results are generalizable to other populations warrants further investigation. Furthermore, individuals from the same ancestry group could be exposed to environmental factors that may lead to individual differences in sweet preferences. The first aim of this study (n = 428) will test the associations between sweet-related SNPs previously identified in GWAS in specific targeted populations and ancestry groups living in the U.S., i.e., in groups with the highest and the lowest added sugars intake. We aim to assess the differences in allele frequencies and the effects of sweet-related genes on sweet preference. We hypothesize that the group with a higher added sugars intake will have higher frequencies of sweet-related alleles and stronger associations between the alleles and sweet preference compared to the group with lower added sugars intake. The second aim will focus on understanding the effect of the environment on sweet preference. The influence of the environment on sweet preference may be more apparent between individuals who were born in the U.S. (exposed to the food environment in the U.S. since birth) and immigrants (exposed to different food environments). Immigrants may retain traditional food habits and practices and therefore are less prone to the obesogenic food environment in the U.S. We will compare the difference in sweet preference between individuals who are native-born vs. immigrants within the same group of participants from Aim 1. We expect to see a lower sweet preference in immigrants compared to their U.S.-born counterparts of the same ancestry group. The overall goal for this proposal is to understand the interactions between genetics and environmental factors on sweet perception and human food preferences, thereby aligning with the NIDCD strategic goal to understand how genes and environment affect food preferences. This study will be conducted at the City University of New York, Brooklyn College, a university where 79% of the entering undergraduate population is eligible for federal or New York state financial aid. If awarded, the support from this project will allow us to enhance resource availability and provide education pathways for students who are interested in biomedical research. As a new faculty, this opportunity will aid my transition from a postdoctoral fellow to becoming an independent researcher and position me to become a leader in the sensory nutrition field.