Impacts of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage on Body Weight

The obesity epidemic is a major public health problem. Weight gain is strongly associated with an increase in the incidence of complex health conditions such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancers. Behaviours linked to food and beverage consumption can greatly affect body weight. Frequent consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages such as carbonated soft-drinks, energy and sport drinks, fruit juices from concentrate, soda and flavoured milk and water is considered to be an unhealthy dietary behaviour. This project will investigate how variations in an individual's genes may impact their consumption of SSBs and thus body fatness. Specifically, the project will aim to investigate whether genetic variation in the taste receptors TAS1R2 and TAS1R3 can influence an individuals' perception and liking of a sweet palate and their intake of SSBs in UK. This study will be an experimental study that evaluates human body composition by different measurements. Additionally, two different biomarkers will be used for the study, such as blood and urine samples. Blood samples are the preferred source for DNA testing, rather than saliva. Urine samples will be used to look at the sugar level in the human body as a measure of body composition using deuterium dilution techniques. Around 128 adult volunteers will be recruited from Aberdeen, UK to participate in the study, which will take approximately one week to complete for each individual.