Genetic Determinants of Food Preferences

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Taste perception plays a key role in determining individual food preferences and dietary habits. Individual differences in bitter, sweet, umami, sour or salty taste perception may influence dietary habits that impact the nutritional status of an individual. In addition to these traditional taste modalities there is growing evidence that 'fat taste' may represent a sixth modality. Several taste receptors have been identified within taste cell membranes on the surface of the tongue, and they include the T2R family of bitter taste receptors, the T1R receptors associated with sweet and umami taste perception, the ion channels PKD1L3 and PKD2L1 linked to sour taste, the integral membrane protein CD36 and the G protein-coupled receptor GPR120, which are putative 'fat taste' receptors. Additionally, epithelial sodium channels and a vanilloid receptor, TRPV1, may account for salty taste perception. Common polymorphisms in genes involved in taste perception may, therefore, account for some of the inter-individual differences in food preferences and dietary habits within and between populations. However, the association between polymorphisms in these genes and preference/aversion to certain foods and beverages is not known. The objective of the proposed research program is to investigate how common variations in genes that code for different taste receptors influence preferences for certain foods and beverages in a population of young adults. Participants (n=1,650) will be from the Toronto Nutrigenomics and Health Study who completed a 63-item food preference checklist, a 196-item food frequency questionnaire and a general lifestyle questionnaire. DNA was isolated from fasting blood samples and will be used for genotyping candidate polymorphisms in genes that code for taste receptors. Findings from this research program will help to explain why some individuals seek or avoid certain foods and may have important implications for the development of novel food products that are targeted to certain populations.