Endocannabinoids are involved in the modulation of eating behavior; hence, alterations of this system may play a role in
obesity. Recently, a single nucleotide polymorphism (
cDNA 385C to A) of the gene coding for
fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), the major degrading
enzyme of
endocannabinoids, has been found to be associated with
obesity. However, the possibility that the FAAH gene
cDNA 385C to A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is associated to
binge eating disorder (BED), a condition that frequently occurs in obese individuals, has not been investigated. In order to address this issue, we assessed the distribution of the
cDNA 385C to A SNP in 115
overweight/obese subjects with BED, 74 non-BED patients with
obesity and 110 normal weight healthy controls. As compared to healthy controls, the whole group of
overweight/obese BED and non-BED patients had a significantly higher frequency of the CA genotype and the A allele of the FAAH gene
cDNA 385C to A SNP. Moreover, the SNP resulted significantly correlated to the presence of
overweight/
obesity (F(2, 296)=3.58, P=0.02), but not to the occurrence of BED (F(2, 296)=0.98; P=0.3). The present study confirms previously published significant over-representations of the FAAH 385 A allele in
overweight/obese subjects and presents new data in BED patients that the 385 mutation is not significantly associated with BED-related
obesity.