BALTIMORE – Genes appear to play a role not only in a child's vulnerability to weight gain but also in behaviors that can lead to weight gain, data presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society show.
Jane Wardle, Ph.D., director of the health behavior research center at University College London, and her colleagues analyzed data on 5,435 pairs of twins aged 8–11 years who are part of the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). Parents rated each twin on satiety sensitivity and food cue responsiveness.
Using genetic model fitting, the researchers estimated that genes account for 63% of satiety sensitivity. Shared environment and nonshared environmental factors accounted for 21% and 16% of satiety sensitivity. The researchers also estimated that genes account for 75% of food cue responsiveness. Shared environment and nonshared environmental factors accounted for 10% and 15% of food cue responsiveness, respectively, she said.
The researchers also used genetic model fitting to estimate the influence of genes, shared environment, and nonshared environment on body mass index and waist circumference.
Genes account for roughly three-quarters of the variability in BMI and waist circumference in these children, shared environment accounts for about 10%, and nonshared environment accounts for roughly 15%.