The determinants of the intake of high-fat products are not well understood.
The aim of this study was to examine the relations between fat perception, intake of high-fat food, and body-weight status, taking into account the polymorphism of the genes that encode the proteins involved in oral fat perception.
A total of 421 participants aged 20-40 y were enrolled in Poznań, Poland, from 2016 to 2018. An ascending forced-choice triangle procedure was applied to determine fat discrimination ability. Salad dressings with varying concentrations of canola oil were used as stimuli. Genotyping of rs1761667 (CD36) rs1573611 [free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFAR1)], rs17108973 [free fatty acid receptor 4 (FFAR4)], and rs2274333 (CA6) was performed using TaqMan probes. The frequency of consumption of high-fat foods was measured using an application for mobile devices that uses the ecological momentary assessment approach. The associations were analyzed using linear regression or logistic regression, as appropriate.
Individuals with the GG CD36 genotype were twice as likely to be fat discriminators, compared with the A allele carriers (P < 0.05). The mean total consumption of high-fat food was 45.8 (44.6, 47.0) times/wk and was not associated with fat discrimination or body-weight status. Obese and overweight subjects ate healthy high-fat food less frequently than did participants with normal body weight, at 4.53 (3.83, 5.23) versus 6.68 (5.82, 7.55) times/wk, respectively (P < 0.001). Men ate sweet high-fat food and snacks 15% less frequently than did women (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05) but consumed high-fat meat and fast food almost 40% more often than did women (P < 0.001 for both associations).
In individuals aged 20-40 y, fat discrimination ability is associated with polymorphism of CD36 but not with the choice of high-fat food. The frequency of consumption of different types of high-fat foods varies by sex and body-weight status.

Copyright © The Author(s) on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition 2020.

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