Evaluation of the association between the TAS1R2 and TAS1R3 variants and food intake and nutritional status in children

Abstract

Taste perception plays a key role in determining individual food preferences and dietary habits and may influence nutritional status. This study aimed to investigate the association of TAS1R2 (Ile191Val - rs35874116) and TAS1R3 (-1266 C/T - rs35744813) variants with food intake and nutritional status in children followed from birth until 7.7 years old. The nutritional status and food intake data of 312 children were collected at three developmental stages (1, 3.9 and 7.7 years old). DNA was extracted from blood samples and the polymorphisms were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) using hydrolysis probes as the detection method. Food intake and nutritional status were compared among individuals with different single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes. At 3.9 years old, children homozygous (Val/Val) for the TAS1R2 Ile191Val polymorphism ingested less sugar and sugar-dense foods than children who were *Ile carriers. This finding demonstrated that a genetic variant of the T1R2 taste receptor is associated with the intake of different amounts of high sugar-content foods in childhood. This association may provide new perspectives for studying dietary patterns and nutritional status in childhood.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Taste Receptor Genes Are Associated with Snacking Patterns of Preschool-Aged Children in the Guelph Family Health Study: A Pilot Study

“…If the evening is a time of day when children with a “sweet tooth” potentially consume more sugary snacks, this finding warrants future studies to assess the availability and accessibility of sugary foods in the home environment as a means to address the role of parents in the intake of sugary foods by young children during the evening. Future studies may also benefit from including genetic variants in the TAS1R3 sweet taste receptor gene to examine determinants of sweet food intake [ 21 , 38 ]. Chronic overconsumption of sugar is a well-known risk factor for MetS and T2D [ 39 ].…”

“…The heterodimer T1R2 and T1R3 allows humans to taste a variety of sweet substances [ 8 , 9 ], and genetic variations in TAS1R2 may pertain to changes in taste sensitivity to sugar [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Specifically, the TT genotype of the rs35874116 SNP in the TAS1R2 gene has been linked to habitual sugar consumption in overweight and obese adults [ 20 ] and children [ 21 ]. In children, dental caries risk is a concern associated with the consumption of sugar [ 22 ].…”

Chocolate Consumers and Lymphocyte-to-Monocyte Ratio: A Working Hypothesis from a Preliminary Report of a Pilot Study in Celiac Subjects

“…First of all, although sweets consumption (included in the MDS 5) did not differ between groups and the standard portion size was 30 g, we could not collect any information about either the percentage of cocoa in the consumed dark chocolate or food preference. The latter is the main factor driving food intake and choice and depends on many factors, including individual differences in human perception of sweetness partly due to polymorphisms in the taste-related genes TAS1R2/TAS1R3 [28,29,30,31] and interactions between bitter and sweet taste systems [32]. It is well known that in cacao polyphenolic compounds show both bitter and astringent characteristics, with a rejection threshold depending on percentage of cocoa in chocolate [33].…”

Effects of polymorphisms in <i>CAPN1</i> and <i>CAST</i> genes on meat tenderness of Chinese Simmental cattle

“…Meat quality traits are normally influenced by the interaction of many factors, including the animal genetics. Single nucleotide polymorphism markers that can be measured in one or more populations play a central role in modern genetic breeding (Davey et al, 2011;Coll et al, 2014;Melo et al, 2017;Renaville et al, 2015) and are important tools for beef cattle breeding (Li et al, 2013a;Sun et al, 2013;Buzanskas et al, 2017). Characterization of the genes affecting important economical traits and the availability of the bovine genome sequence have allowed researchers to identify the polymorphisms associated with phenotype.…”