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It is commonly believed that eating behavior plays an important role as an environmental factor that affects the risk of adult-onset diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes. The change in energy balance arising from opulence often results in obesity, which increases the risk of metabolic disease. Genetic factors are also important components involved in the pathogenesis of the above-mentioned diseases, because gene variations can directly influence the functional properties or expression levels of proteins in humans. In addition, family and twin studies have suggested the existence of a genetic influence on food preference.1 The genes encoding the adrenergic and serotonergic receptors have been reported to be associated with dietary patterns.2, 3, 4 How these genes affect food intake, however, remains unclear. Fatty acid-binding protein 2 (FABP2) is expressed only in the absorptive epithelial cells of the small intestine, and is involved in the cellular uptake and transport of long-chain fatty acids.5 A well-known single nucleotide polymorphism in the FABP2 gene, the missense Ala54Thr variation, is common in diverse populations.6 Many, but not all, association studies on this variation in insulin resistance and fasting, or postprandial blood glucose and triglyceride levels have identified a relationship between genotypes and phenotypes.7, 8 In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the FABP2 gene polymorphism is associated with food consumption and nutritional intake. The participants were healthy female university students (n=64, 20–22 years of age) who were genotyped for the Ala54Thr polymorphism in the FABP2 gene. Dietary intakes were assessed in face-to-face interviews in which the participants completed a food frequency questionnaire involving food samples classified into 93 categories.2 Anthropometric measurements (height, weight, and body mass index) were also obtained. The study design was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Nagasaki and written informed consent was obtained from all participants. The genotype frequencies were 43.8% for Ala54Ala, 53.1% for Ala54Thr and 3.1% for Thr54Thr. The distributions were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and consistent with those of the general population in Japan.9 As the Thr54Thr group was small, the Ala54Thr and Thr54Thr groups were combined as Thr54 carriers for statistical analysis. The daily dietary intake of calories and many nutrients (such as carbohydrates, total protein, total fat, and vitamins B1 and C) was significantly higher in the Thr54 carriers, and among the food groups only rice was highly consumed on a caloric basis in these carriers (Table 1). No differences were detected in other nutrients (calcium and vitamins A, B2 and E), food groups (breads, noodles, meats, fishes, vegetables, eggs, beans, soups, alcoholic beverages, dairy products, soft drinks, and confectioneries), or anthropometric indices (data not shown). The present results show that the Ala54Thr polymorphism in the FABP2 gene significantly affects eating behavior in Japanese women. Earlier studies have shown that FABP2-Thr has a greater binding affinity for long-chain fatty acids than FABP2-Ala, resulting in greater uptake of dietary fatty acids and a higher plasma lipid concentration.5 Thr54 carriers also show higher lipid oxidation rates, which might prevent an excessive increase in fasting and postprandial lipids.8 In the glucose–fatty acid cycle, enhanced lipid oxidation would impair glucose utilization, which might influence the blood glucose level and, consequently, food appetite. The differences in glucoregulatory function and lipid oxidation might be partly explained by the genotype-dependent eating behavior. In addition, de Araujo et al.10 reported that sucrose intake induces dopamine release in the ventral striatum of Trpm5 knockout (sweet-blind) mice, indicating that calories and nutrients can directly influence brain reward circuits that control food intake independently of palatability or functional taste transduction. The present study shows that the polymorphism in the FABP2 gene was associated with higher food intake. Further studies evaluating a larger sample size or other populations are required to confirm our findings, which may provide new strategies to prevent diet-induced diseases.

The Ala54Thr polymorphism in the fatty acid-binding protein 2 gene leads to higher food intake in Japanese women