Skip to main content
NUTRITION 2023 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back

Session: Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Health Outcomes (Poster Theater Flash Session 3)

(PTFS03-03-23) Ultra-Processed Foods Consumption: Role of Genes Involved in Brain Reward/Addiction System and Association With Insulin Resistance

Sunday, July 23, 2023
8:13 AM – 8:17 AM ET
Location:  Fairfax

    Presenting Author(s)

  • SH

    Sara Haydar, PhD

    Postdoctoral fellow
    Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
    Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark

    Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • SR

    Stina Ramne

    Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • AM

    Anja Lykke Madsen

    Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Copenhagen University Hospital - Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • LK

    Line Lund Kårhus

    Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Copenhagen University Hospital - Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • AL

    Allan Linneberg

    Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Copenhagen University Hospital - Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark

  • NG

    Niels Grarup

    Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Disclosure(s):
Sara Haydar, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Objectives: Higher consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) is associated with higher risk of metabolic disorders such as obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases, and this may be partially explained by addictive behavior and eating disorders. This study aimed to explore genetic determinants of UPF intake considering genes involved in addiction/reward system and to investigate the relation with insulin resistance (IR).

Methods: UPF intake (g/day) was estimated by the NOVA Food Classification system in 5916 individuals from the Danish population-based Inter99 cohort using Food Frequency Questionnaire data. For genetic association we included single nucleotide variants (SNVs) of genes that are 1) involved in reward system, 2) differentially expressed in brain from individuals with addiction traits using GEO database and 3) associated with substance abuse in previous GWAS. Associations of SNVs and UPF intake were determined by linear regression. For IR, we added the insulin sensitivity index (ISI Matsuda) as covariate in our analysis of SNVs and UPF intake. Then, we assessed the association between UPF intake and ISI by linear regression while stratifying the population in low and high IR-risk based on a genetic risk score (GRS) comprising 53 SNVs.

Results: The study population was composed of 51% females and had a mean age of 46.3 ± 7.85 years and Body Mass Index (BMI) of 26.3 ± 4.61 kg/m2 (means ± SD). Among 63000 tested SNVs, significant association with UPF intake was found for rs4809464 in SLCO4A1 (Chr20) with P < 0.001 adjusted for age, sex, BMI, which encodes the transporter of thyroid hormones and has been previously associated with T2D. Additional variants were associated (albeit not sustained by multiple testing correction) and located in MEGF11, MCTP1, ANO3, SLC39A8 and DDC loci, among which some are highly expressed in the brain. When adjusting for ISI, the association with SLCO4A1 remained significant. Furthermore, higher intake of UPF was associated with lower insulin sensitivity (β = -0.002 ± 0.0008; P < 0.05) in the high IR-GRS group only.

Conclusions: These data indicate a potential role of addiction/reward genes in UPF intake independently from IR, while the relationship between IR and UPF intake in the high IR-GRS group may be explained by additive complex peripheral mechanisms.

Funding Sources: NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research