A genome-wide association study in Japanese identified one variant associated with a preference for a Japanese dietary pattern

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Individual eating habits may be influenced by genetic factors, in addition to environmental factors. Previous studies suggested that adherence to Japanese food patterns was associated with a decreased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a Japanese population to find genetic variations that affect adherence to a Japanese food pattern. SUBJECTS/METHODS We analyzed GWAS data using 14,079 participants from the Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort study. We made a Japanese food score based on six food groups. Association of the imputed variants with the Japanese food score was performed by linear regression analysis with adjustments for age, sex, total energy intake, alcohol intake (g/day), and principal components 1-10 omitting variants in the major histocompatibility region. RESULTS We found one SNP in the 14q11.2 locus that was significantly associated with the Japanese food score with P values <5 × 10-8. Functional annotation revealed that the expression levels of two genes (BCL2L2, SLC22A17) were significantly inversely associated with this SNP. These genes are known to be related to olfaction and obesity. CONCLUSION We found a new SNP that was associated with the Japanese food score in a Japanese population. This SNP is inversely associated with genes link to olfaction and obesity.