Television food advertisement exposure and FTO genotype in relation to excess consumption in children

Abstract

IMPORTANCEExposure to food advertisements may cue overeating among children, especially those genetically predisposed to eat more in response to food cues.OBJECTIVETo assess how television food advertisements affect eating in the absence of hunger among children in a randomized trial. We hypothesized that the effect of food advertisements would be modified by the Fat Mass and Obesity Associated Gene (FTO) rs9939609 single nucleotide polymorphism.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSIn this randomized experiment, 172 children aged 9–10 years old were served a standardized lunch to self‐reported satiety and then shown a children's television show embedded with either food or toy advertisements. Children were provided one food that was advertised during the show (gummy candy) and three that were not advertised (chocolate candy, cookies, chips) to consume ad libitum while watching the show. Children were genotyped for rs9939609. Additional characteristics of the child were collected via questionnaires.EXPOSURESAssignment to view either food or toy advertisements (7.7 minutes) embedded in a child's television show (34 minutes).MAIN OUTCOME MEASURESTotal caloric intake during the experimental exposure (overall and by advertised vs. non‐advertised foods). Analyses assessed the outcome overall and stratified by FTO genotype.RESULTSChildren consumed on average 440 (SD=185) kCals during lunch and 482 (SD=274) kCals during the experimental exposure. There was no main effect of experimental exposure on total snack food consumed while viewing the television show (P = 0.27); however, children who viewed food advertisements consumed an average of 48 kCals (95% CI: 10, 85; P=0.01) more of a recently advertised food than those who viewed toy advertisements. Further, there was a statistically significant interaction between genotype and food advertisement condition (P=0.02), where the difference in consumption of the recently advertised food related to food vs. toy advertisement exposure increased linearly with each additional FTO risk‐allele: −3, 59, and 125 kCals for the TT, AT, and AA genotypes, respectively.CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEFood advertisement exposure was associated with greater caloric consumption of a recently advertised food, and this effect was modified by FTO genotype. Future research is needed to understand the neurological mechanism underlying these associations.Support or Funding InformationThis study was supported by grant R21HD076097 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH) (Dr. Gilbert‐Diamond); by grant R01DA022582 from the National Institute of Drug Addiction (NIH) (Heatherton); by grant R01CA077026 from the National Cancer Institute (NIH) (Sargent); by grant R01AA021347 from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH) (Sargent).