EpidemiologyofFoodPreferenceinKorea:TheHealthyTwinStudy

Abstract

Introduction: What ones eat matters in shaping health and diseases, still little is known about its determinants. We attempted to grasp components of food preference in adult with particular focus on genetic versus environmental influences. Materials and Methods: The Healthy Twin Study is a twin-family cohort study of Korean, involving adult twins and their first-degree relatives. Among 3500 cohort subjects, 1029 individuals participated in the food preference survey (154 complete monozygotic twin pairs, age ranged from 17 to 87, female 61.2%). There were two open questions about food preferences (distaste, fondness), and participants were asked to name food up to 3 items. Dimension/component of taste was categorized, and the food preference survey results were mapped with the pre-determined categories. General characteristics of each dimension were described by age, sex groups. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) between relative pairs were calculated. Genetic versus environmental influences were estimated by variance component model as heritability (h2) and shared environment effects (c2). Environmental sharing was further examined as sibling effects, spousal effects and current cohabitation. Results: Food preferences were categorized into 4 groups with several subgroups

olfaction/aroma (Olfaction), texture/consistency (Texture), emotional or psychological disgust (Disgust), other specific food items (Others). Sex differences in food preference was observed for some dimensions

women reported more distaste for meat-conventional, Disgust. Age was another factor that showed a strong trend with some categories

younger people reported more about Olfaction or Texture preferences. Some categories showed more than moderate genetic influences

distastes for Olfaction and Texture (h2: 0.41, 0.48). For Flavor subgroups, shared environmental effect was also evident (c2: 0.55). Some dimensions showed no evidence of genetic influences

only shared environments explained distastes for O al (c2: 0.33), meat-unconventional and meat-conventional (spouse ICC: 0.207, 0.308). Personal fondness showed more genetic influences (h2: 0.27-0.68), which is also compatible with ICCs. Conclusion: Our findings show that food preferences in adult consist of multi-sensorial factors, far beyond simple taste or aroma. Olfaction, psycho-emotional influences, and touch sensation in the mouth are all important components that constitute personal food preferences. Of those categories, some showed more genetic influences, while others show more environmental influences which is subject to potential changes.