Appetitive traits in children. New evidence for associations with weight and a common, obesity-associated genetic variant

The ‘obesogenic’ environment has the potential to affect everyone, but nonetheless, individuals differ in body weight, suggesting variation in susceptibility to environmental influences. Behavioural studies indicate that obese children experience low responsiveness to internal satiety signals and high responsiveness to external food cues. In this paper we describe the results of new studies using behavioural tests and psychometric questionnaires in large samples to show that individual variation in these appetitive traits relates to body weight throughout the distribution. We also describe twin studies and genetic association studies supporting a strong genetic component to appetite. Implications include the early identification of ‘at risk’ children, and interventions to modify appetitive traits.