Genome-wide association study on eating behavior measured by Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire(DEBQ)

Abstract

Purpose. To investigate specific genetic variants which cause eating behavior problem in the Korean population. Methods. Study subjects were 2606 healthy Korean adults who participated in the Healthy Twin study. Eating behavior problem were evaluated by Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) which includes 33 items and diagnoses three different behaviors

restrained, emotional, and external eating behavior. We calculated three independent scores representing those three behaviors and treated them as continuous variables. Genome-wide association analysis has been done with eating behavior scores and SNP chip array data (Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0). Results. Rs522723 which associates with emotional eating was the most significant single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in our study. This SNP had a significant level of p-value(0.04) even after FDR correction. CTDP1 gene which include rs522723 is well-established to associate with congenital cataracts, facial dysmorphism and neuropathy syndrome (CCFDN). However, the number of risk allele at this locus does not seem to increase obesity level measured by BMI. Conclusions. We searched for a genetic variant which play a role in emotional eating behavior in the Korean population.