Monday 08 March 2010
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What new perspectives on eating behavior versus food type are introduced?
Hello, it's Norman Swann here with The Health Report. Welcome. In this program, new ways of looking at how we eat rather than what we eat and the difference it makes to our chances of putting on weight. US research, which is treating food as an addictive substance in obese children, and British research from University College London on how a lot of this might be driven by the genes we've inherited. Claire Lwellan is in UCL's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.
Genes can influence behaviors just as much as they can influence metabolic factors. Just as we found that genes influence personality and intelligence. We know they influence eating behaviors.
And there's this conundrum which is that if you have a genetic tendency to obesity, why we had the explosion in the last few years? We should have always been fat.
That's a really good question. If you inherit behaviours to eat in a certain way or to like the taste of certain foods, then those sorts of inherited behaviours allow for a potential gene environment interaction.
You've got to be exposed to the environment to get it.
Genes don't exist in a vacuum.
So it's like saying you've got a genetic tendency to lung cancer, but if you never see a cigarette, you're never going to know.
For example, if I have a taste for foods that are very high in sugar and fat and I I really enjoy eating them, that genetic disposition would never be expressed if I was never in contact with foods that were very high in sugar and fat. The
hypothesis is we've had a boom in junk food in the since the war.
We have had a boom in junk food since the war. For example, in a famine where food is very scarce, you're unlikely to see genetic dispositions to obesity. If you take that same population and put them in an environment where food is plentiful, you'll start to see quite profound individual differences in weight.
And you've been looking at a particular gene.
We've been looking at the influence of a gene called FTO, the first gene that was found to relate to common obesity, just a gene that everybody carries and common variants in this gene have been found.
That's exactly right. Generally, you have two forms of of a gene. So with FTO, you can have two low-risk forms and you can have one low risk, one high risk, and two high-risk forms. If, for example, you carry one low-risk and one high-risk form, you're on average one and a half kilos heavier than someone who carries two low-risk forms. If you carry two high-risk forms, you're on average three kilos heavier than someone who carries two low-risk forms. So it's a small effect.
This doesn't turn you into a sphere.
No, absolutely not. But there are probably hundreds and hundreds of these genes.
And you looked at this gene with the environment in children?
Yeah, what we've looked at is whether FTO influences eating styles that have been associated with weight in children and adults. One of these traits in particular is what we call satiety sensitivity.
Never knowing you're full.
Exactly. It's how easily you fill up. Mothers were asked to school their children.
Give me an example of some of the questions you asked.
My child leaves food on his plate at the end of a meal. My child can't eat a snack within thirty minutes of just having eaten, that kind of thing. And the mother would typically score from never to always on a five point scale. And what we found was that FTO influences this trait.
Did you find an effect that suppressed the effect of the gene? In other words, could you manipulate your environment so the gene lost its effect?
Some studies have found an interaction between FTO and physical activity. People who exercise a lot are less likely to be overweight as a result of having FTO, so it protects them.
What might be the implications of that for parents or children or what have you?
It's very difficult to know the consequences of individual genetic information at the moment. And it could go either way. If you know that you have this genetic disposition to eat more and gain more weight, are you quite fatalistic about it and think there's no point anyway, it's my genes?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What new perspectives on eating behavior versus food type are introduced?
0:00–5:58
2
How do genetics and the modern food environment interact to drive obesity?
5:58–11:16
3
What is the FTO gene and how does it influence body weight?
11:16–19:23
4
What were the findings of the parent‑only versus parent‑and‑child childhood obesity trial?
19:23–27:23
5
How do appetite‑awareness training and cue‑responsivity training differ for overeating children?
27:23–29:01
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