Dale Lloyd II, No. 39. (The Rice Football Webletter)
On a mild September afternoon in 2006, 19-year-old cornerback Dale Lloyd II stepped onto the practice field for a conditioning workout with the Rice University football team. After running 16 consecutive sprints of 100 yards each, he collapsed. He died the next day from acute exertional rhabdomyolysis (ER) associated with a genetic condition called sickle cell trait. Lloyd did not know that he had the sickle cell trait, yet if he had known, some simple precautions could have saved his life. In order to keep other young athletes from suffering the same fate, Lloyd’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit in September 2008 against Rice University and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Lloyd did not know that he had the sickle cell trait, yet if he had known, some simple precautions could have saved his life.
When the lawsuit was settled in June 2009, the NCAA agreed to require that, beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year, all Division I athletes undergo testing for sickle cell trait (PMID 20825310). It is estimated that this will ultimately affect more than 160,000 athletes.
This rare risk of sudden death for those with sickle cell trait is a vivid example of how a person’s genes and lifestyle or environment play important roles in determining the risk of disease.
In Pathway’s newest genetic test, Pathway Fit™, we analyze a person’s genetic makeup for the propensity for a variety of eating behavior traits. Eating disinhibition and food desire are two of these traits, and are sometimes confused. But these two traits are different.
While eating disinhibition describes a person’s tendency to eat more than normal in response to a stimulus, food desire, on the other hand, is measured by the amount of effort a person is willing to expend to get their favorite foods. Said another way, eating disinhibition describes someone who chows down on snacks at a party, while food desire describes someone who drives 20 minutes out of their way to get their favorite barbecue.
Eating disinhibition occurs when a person loses control and overeats, which can occur when a person’s favorite foods are available, in times of emotional stress, or in social gatherings. In a 2010 study involving 729 people (381 females and 348 males), researchers examined the association between eating disinhibition and the rs1726866 marker in the TAS2R38 gene. This association was found only within the female participants in the study (PMID 19782709).
For food desire, on the other hand, there are no objective methods to quantify an individual’s fondness for certain foods. Despite this hurdle, behavioral scientists are able to measure an individual’s motivation to consume food and compare it to others’ motivations to consume food. This method of measurement is called the reinforcing value of food, and it evaluates the effort an individual is willing to expend to access his or her favorite foods (PMID 16257474).
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