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Nutrition: Why some people prefer fatty
foods
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Nutrition
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London: Tuesday 04 October 2016 16:00 (BST)
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New York: Tuesday 04 October 2016 11:00 (EDT)
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Tokyo: Wednesday 05 October 2016 00:00 (JST)
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Sydney: Wednesday 05 October 2016 02:00 (AEDT)
Humans show markedly higher preference for foods rich in fat and a lower preference for highsugar foods when they have mutations in a specific receptor found in the brain, compared with
people without these mutations, reports a study published online in Nature Communications.
These results suggest that a defined neuronal circuit may mediate food preference in humans.
Hypothalamic and brainstem neuronal circuits are critically involved in the regulation of feeding
behavior. Previous extensive work in mice has shown that disruption of melanocortin signaling
through mutations in the gene for the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) leads to over-consumption
of food, increased preference for fat rich foods and lower preference for sugar. However, the
relevance of these findings to regulation of eating behaviour in humans has been unclear.
Ismaa Farooqi and colleagues tested the food preferences of up to 14 individuals with rare
variations in MC4R that led to deficiency in melanocortin signaling and compared them with lean
and obese individuals. Individuals were free to choose between three food options that had
similar ‘liking’ ratings in terms of appearance, texture and taste but contained either low, medium
or high levels of fat. The participants did not know these differences in fat content and also did
not mention such differences in post interviews. People with MC4R mutations consumed 95%
and 65% more of the high-fat meal compared to the lean and obese control groups
(respectively). On the other hand, the preference for desserts with high sugar content was
significantly lower in the MC4R-mutated individuals.
These findings provide initial confirmatory evidence in humans for the role of MC4R in food
preferences and suggest a direct association between melanocortical signalling in specific
neuronal circuits and preference for different food types.
Article and author details
1. Divergent effects of central melanocortin signalling on fat and
sucrose preference in humans
Corresponding Author
Ismaa Farooqi
Wellcome Trust-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge , United Kingdom
Email: [email protected], Tel: +44 1223 762 634
DOI
10.1038/ncomms13055
Online paper*
http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ncomms13055