Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T05:35:09.554Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

High-fat and low-fat (behavioural) phenotypes: biology or environment?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

John E. Blundell  and
John Cooling
John E. Blundell*
Affiliation:
BioPsychology Group, Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
John Cooling
Affiliation:
BioPsychology Group, Department of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
†Corresponding Author: Professor John E. Blundell, fax +44 (0)113 233 6674, email JohnEB@Psychology.Leeds.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

It is now widely accepted that obesity develops by way of genetic mechanisms conferring specific dispositions which interact with strong environmental pressures. It is also accepted that certain dispositions constitute metabolic risk factors for weight gain. It is less well accepted that certain patterns of behaviour (arising from biological demands or environmental influences) put individuals at risk of developing a positive energy balance and weight gain (behavioural risk factors). Relevant patterns of behaviour include long-lasting habits for selecting and eating particular types of foods. Such habits define two distinct groups characterized as high-fat (HF) and low-fat (LF) phenotypes. These habits are important because of the attention given to dietary macronutrients in body-weight gain and the worldwide epidemic of obesity. Considerable evidence indicates that the total amount of dietary fat consumed remains the most potent food-related risk factor for weight gain. However, although habitual intake of a high-fat diet is a behavioural risk factor for obesity, it does not constitute a biological inevitability. A habitual low-fat diet does seem to protect against the development of obesity, but a high-fat diet does not guarantee that an individual will be obese. Although obesity is much more prevalent among HF than LF, some HF are lean with BMI well within the normal range. The concept of 'different routes to obesity' through a variety of nutritional scenarios can be envisaged, with predisposed individuals varying in their susceptibility to different dietary inputs. In a particular subgroup of individuals (young adult males) HF and LF displayed quite different profiles of appetite control, response to nutrient challenges and physiological measures, including BMR, RQ, heart rate, plasma leptin levels and thermogenic responses to fat and carbohydrate meals. These striking differences suggest that HF and LF can be used as a conceptual tool to investigate the relationship between biology and the environment (diet) in the control of body weight.

Keywords

Dietary fat intakeObesityEnergy balance
Type
Symposium on ‘Social and environmental influences on diet choice’
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , November 1999 , pp. 773 - 777
Copyright
The Nutrition Society

Footnotes

*

Some concepts included in this paper have been presented previously at an MRC LINK Workshop on Genetic and Environmental Interactions in Obesity, 20 March 1997.

References

Astrup, A, Ryan, L, Storgaard, M, Saris, WHM & Hill, JO (1998) Does dietary fat affect obesity? A meta-analysis of ad libitum low-fat diets. International Journal of Obesity(In the Press).Google Scholar
Baghurst, KI, Baghurst, PA & Record, SJ (1994) Demographic and dietary profiles of high and low fat consumers in Australia. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 48, 26–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blundell, JE & King, NA (1996) Overconsumption as a cause of weight gain: behavioural-physiological interactions in the control of food intake (appetite). The Origins and Consequences of Obesity. Ciba Foundation Symposium no. 201, pp. 138–158. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Blundell, JE, Lawton, CL, Cotton, JR & Macdiarmid, JI (1996) Control of human appetite: implications for the intake of dietary fat. Annual Review of Nutrition 16, 285–319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blundell, JE & Macdiarmid, JI (1998) Passive overconsumption, fat intake and short-term energy balance. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 827, 392–407.Google Scholar
Cooling, J, Barth, J & Blundell, J (1998) The high-fat phenotype: is leptin involved in the adaptive response to a high fat (high energy) diet? International Journal of Obesity 22, 1132–1135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooling, J & Blundell, J (1998a) Are high-fat and low-fat consumers distinct phenotypes? Differences in the subjective and behavioural response to energy and nutrient challenges. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 52, 193–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooling, J & Blundell, J (1998b) Differences in energy expenditure and substrate oxidation between habitual high fat and low fat consumers (phenotypes). International Journal of Obesity 22, 612–618.Google Scholar
Cox, DN, Perry, L, Moore, PB, Vallis, L & Mela, DJ (1999) Sensory and hedonic associations with macronutrient and energy intakes of lean and obese consumers. International Journal of Obesity 23, 403–410.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drewnowski, A, Kurth, C, Holden-Wiltse, J & Saari, J (1992) Food preferences in human obesity: carbohydrates versus fats. Appetite 18, 207–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egger, G & Swinburn, B (1997) An ‘ecological’ approach to the obesity pandemic. British Medical Journal 315, 477–480.Google Scholar
Farooqi, IS, Jebb, SA & Cook, G (1999) Recombinant leptin induces weight loss in human congenital leptin deficiency. Journal of the American Medical Association(In the Press).Google Scholar
Fogelholm, M, Mannisto, S, Vartiainen, E & Pietinen, P (1996) Determinants of energy balance and overweight in Finland 1982 and 1992. International Journal of Obesity 20, 1097–1104.Google ScholarPubMed
French, SJ, Murray, B, Rumsay, RDE, Fadzlin, R & Read, NW (1995) Adaptation to high-fat diets: effects on eating behaviour and plasma cholecystokinin. British Journal of Nutrition 73, 179–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, GR (1997) From individual variation in energy intakes to variations in energy requirements and adaptations to them. British Journal of Nutrition 78, Suppl. 2, S81–S94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, J, Foster, K, Tyler, H & Wiseman, M (1990) The Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults.London: H.M. Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Macdiarmid, JI & Blundell, JE (1998) Assessing dietary intake: who, what and why of under-reporting. Nutrition Research Reviews 11, 1–24.Google Scholar
Macdiarmid, JI, Cade, JE & Blundell, JE (1996) High and low fat consumers, their macronutrient intake and body mass index: further analysis of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey of British Adults. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 505–512.Google ScholarPubMed
Macdiarmid, JI, Cade, JE & Blundell, JE (1998) The sugar–fat relationship revisited: differences in consumption between men and women of varying BMI. International Journal of Obesity 22, 1053–1061.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Margetts, BM, Cade, JE & Osmond, C (1989) Comparison of a food frequency questionnaire with a diet record. International Journal of Epidemiology 18, 868–873.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Melanson, KJ, Satlzman, E, Russell, RR & Roberts, S (1997) Fat oxidation in response to four graded energy challenges in younger and older women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 66, 860–866.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Montague, CT, Farooqi, IS, Whitehead, JP, Soos, MA, Rau, H, Wareham, NJ, Sewter, CP, Digby, JE, Mohammed, SN, Hurst, JA, Cheetham, CH, Earley, AR, Barnett, AH, Prins, JB & O'Rahilly, S (1997) Congenital leptin deficiency is associated with severe early-onset obesity in humans. Nature 387, 903–908.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prentice, AM & Jebb, SA (1995) Obesity in Britain. British Medical Journal 311, 1568–1569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ravussin, E & Gautier, J-F (1999) Metabolic predictors of weight gain. International Journal of Obesity 23, 37–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World, Health Organization (1998) Obesity. Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic. Report of a World Health Organization Consultation on Obesity.Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar