Project Number: 6435-51000-006-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Jul 21, 2006
End Date: Apr 30, 2009

Objective:
1. Identify dietary, physiological, genetic, and behavioral determinants of unhealthy weight gain over a ten-year period in healthy, young, ethnically-mixed men and women with no, one, or two obese parents. 2. Identify relationships between genetic measures of taste perception and the determinants of unhealthy weight gain in the said population. 3. Identify relationships among the determinants of unhealthy weight gain that contribute to an individual¿s susceptibility to obesity.

Approach:
This will be a large-scale, prospective, longitudinal, clinical study using an epidemiological approach. The 1200, free-living participants age 20-35 will be equally divided by gender and race (Caucasian and African-American). Among the participants, 1/3 will have no obese parent, 1/3 will have one obese parent, and 1/3 will have 2 obese (body mass index, BMI, > 30 kg/m2) parents. The participants will undergo a series of assessments in the domains of diet, physiological factors, and behavioral factors at baseline. Additionally, genetic predictors will be explored through a candidate gene approach and a genome-wide association screen. Every 12 months thereafter subjects will return for a brief visit to measure body weight and fat mass and questionnaires will be administered to assess dietary intake and behavioral factors. Subjects will be followed for 10 years to ascertain the rate of weight and fat gain over time.