Genetic predisposition to macronutrient preference and workplace food choices: A secondary analysis of the ChooseWell 365 trial
Background:
Prior research has identified genetic variants influencing macronutrient preference, but whether genetic predisposition to carbohydrate, fat, or protein preference is associated with food choice behavior is unknown. Here, we examined the associations of polygenic scores for carbohydrate, fat, and protein preference with workplace food purchases.
Method:
We conducted a secondary analysis of baseline data from 397 hospital employees enrolled in the ChooseWell 365 trial. Hospital cafeterias labeled all food and beverages with traffic light labels (green=healthy, red=unhealthy). Participants’ cafeteria purchases were obtained retrospectively for the 12 months before study enrollment. Participants’ genetic predisposition to macronutrient preference was characterized using polygenic scores for carbohydrate, fat, and protein preference. Linear mixed-effect models were used to estimate the association between polygenic scores and the number and quality of cafeteria purchases.
Results:
Participants were mostly female (n=321, 80.9%) with a median age of 45 (IQR, 33 to 56) and median BMI of 26.5 (IQR, 23.5 to 30.8 kg/m2). There were 215,692 cafeteria purchases over 12 months. Each SD increase in thepolygenic score for carbohydrate preference was associated with 2.3 additional purchases/month (95%CI, 0.2 to 4.3; p=0.03), and a higher number of green-labeled purchases (b=1.9, 95%CI, 0.5 to 3.3; p=0.01). There were no associations between fat and protein polygenic scores with cafeteria purchases.
Conclusions:
Genetic predisposition to carbohydrate preference, but not fat or protein, was associated with higher numbers of both total and green-labeled purchases. These preliminary findings suggest that genetic differences in food preferences may influence employees’ responses to workplace healthy eating efforts, such as cafeteria traffic light labels.
Keywords:
food choice behavior, genetics of diet, polygenic scores, diet, food purchases
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