Association between genetic obesity susceptibility and mother-reported eating behaviour in children up to 5 years.

BACKGROUND: Many genetic polymorphisms identified by genome-wide association studies for adult body mass index (BMI) have been suggested to regulate food intake.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to study the associations between a genetic obesity risk score, appetitive traits, and growth of children up to age 5 years, with a longitudinal design.

METHODS: In 1142 children from the Etude des Déterminants pre et post natals de la santé de l'ENfant (EDEN) birth cohort, a combined obesity risk-allele score (BMI genetic risk score [GRS]) was related to appetitive traits (energy intake up to 12 mo, a single item on appetite from 4 mo to 3 y, a validated appetite score at 5 y) using Poisson regressions with robust standard errors. The potential mediation of appetitive traits on the association between BMI-GRS and growth was assessed by the Sobel test.

RESULTS: Children with a high BMI-GRS were more likely to have high energy intake at 1 year and high appetite at 2 and 5 years. High energy intake in infancy and high appetite from 1 year were related to higher subsequent BMI. High 2-year appetite seemed to partially mediate the associations between BMI-GRS and BMI from 2 to 5 years (all P ≤ 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Genetic susceptibility to childhood obesity seems to be partially explained by appetitive traits in infancy, followed by an early childhood rise in BMI.