The Impact of Taste Preference-Related Gene Polymorphisms on Alcohol Consumption Behavior: A Systematic Review

Unhealthy alcohol consumption is recognized as a leading contributory factor to mortality and disability. In addition to other factors, taste sensation also mediates alcohol intake. The orosensation provoked by alcoholic drinks may vary across individuals and may be responsible for differences in preference for alcoholic beverages. Thus, individual genetic variability of taste preference may have an impact on alcohol consumption practices. The present review aimed to explore the associations between different taste preference polymorphisms and alcohol consumption behavior. Based on the PRISMA statement, the three databases PubMed, Web of Science and ProQuest Central were searched to identify articles and the Q-Genie tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Among the 17 studies included in this review, 5 and 12 were of good and moderate quality, respectively. Most of the studies analyzed TAS2R38 (taste 2 receptor member 38) rs713598, rs1726866, rs10246939 polymorphisms. Due to the inconclusive findings on these variants and the very limited number of studies on other polymorphisms, additional extensive research is recommended to replicate the existing findings, to generate new knowledge to enhance our understanding of the complexity of alcohol consumption behavior and to aid the development of personalized recommendations on unhealthy alcohol use

Dietary intake, physical activities and nutritional status of adolescent girls in an urban population of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, under-nutrition is a common health problem, but for socio-cultural background, it is most predominant among the female population starting from their early life to motherhood. For the adolescent girls, there has been no such study though they will be the future mothers. Therefore, this study is designed to address the lifestyle and nutrition of the Bangladeshi female adolescents. The study was conducted purposively in Dhaka selecting randomly 15 of 95 City corporation wards of Dhaka City. All adolescent girls aged 10–18 years were considered eligible participants of an urban population of Bangladesh. The study included socio-demographic information, clinical examination, dietary intake, physical activities and body mass index (BMI = weight in kg / height in m. sq.). Overall, 352 adolescent girls volunteered. Socio-economically, 51% of them had monthly family income ³ 20,000 BDT and 11.4% had <10,000 BDT. Of the participants, 14.8% had BMI <18.5, 80.7% had 18.5 – 24.9, and 4.6% had ³ 25. BMI was found not to have significant association with physical activities. No clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency were observed. On clinical examination 75% of the participants were found healthy, 15.9% had anemia and 5.7% had diarrhea. Compared with the national dietary intake, the cereal intake was lower but protein containing foods like pulse and nuts, meat, egg, fish, milk and milk products were found very much close to the national intake. On the average, 95 % of calorie, 93.5 % of protein and 96.5 % of fat requirement were met. For micronutrient requirement, very low intake was observed with calcium (62 %) and iron (63 %). In conclusion, the participants consumed rice daily with frequent consumption of vegetables. Although the study subjects were mostly from higher class of urban dwellers their dietary intake was found not healthy as evidenced by daily rice intake and very low intake of fruits, calcium and iron indicating lack of awareness regarding food habit. Further study is needed to confirm the study findings and to initiate health education on diet among the Bangladeshi adolescent girls. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2010; 4(2): 78-8