Grant: Operating Grant

It is well established that an epidemic of obesity is well underway in developed countries around the world, with enormous costs at a personal, familial and societal level. Of particular concern is the rapid increase in obesity in children, which in Canada has tripled in frequency in recent decades. Efforts to prevent and treat obesity in general, and childhood obesity in particular, have fallen well short of established goals. It may be that current treatments are simply unable to override the basic evolutionary mechanisms underlying the consumption of palatable foods that have protected humans from starvation over millions of years. If so, identification of genetic variants and/or adversities that make children more sensitive to food reward should point the way to new prevention and treatment strategies established very early in life. The goal of the current project is to examine how certain genes and/or adversities play a role in food reward processes and weight regulation in children 4-7 years of age. This proposal extends from a large CIHR-sponsored grant called Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN), and from cutting edge work in adult overeating populations done by members of the current research team. It is anticipated that findings from this study will make a major contribution to the understanding, prevention and treatment of both childhood obesity and obesity in general.