Dose-response relationship between walking and the attenuation of inherited weight

Abstract

Objective Genetic factors account for 40%–70% of the variation in body mass index (BMI). We sought to test whether moderate intensity physical activity affected parent–offspring relationships for body mass index and regional adiposity in 26,587 female and 6428 male walkers surveyed in the United States in 2000. Methods Survey questionnaires provided self-reported usual walking distance, height, weight, and waist circumference, and mother’s and father’s adiposity (1=lean, 2=normal, 3=overweight, and 4=very overweight). Regression analyses were used to test whether the contribution of parental adiposities to the walkers’ body mass indexes and waist circumferences diminished with walking. Results In the most sedentary group (walking <1.5 km/d), average parental adiposity was a significant determinant of the walkers’ body mass indexes and waist circumferences (female: P<10−15; male: P<10−13). Greater walking distance significantly diminished the effect of average parents’ adiposity on the walkers’ body mass indexes (female: P<10−10; male P=0.003) and waist circumferences (female: P<10−6; male P=0.01). Compared to the most sedentary female walkers, the effect of parental adiposity was reduced 36% for body mass indexes and 41% for waist circumferences (corresponding reductions in men were 36% and 46%, respectively). Conclusion These results suggest that moderate intensity physical activity attenuates inheritance of both total and regional adiposity in a dose-dependent manner.

Walking Attenuates the Relationships of High‐Meat, Low‐Fruit Dietary Intake to Total and Regional Adiposity in Men and Women

“…Others have also shown walking distance to be inversely related to adiposity in men and women (25,26). In part, this may be due to the attenuated effects of obesity risk factors, e.g., we have shown that walking attenuates the risk for a parental history of obesity in this cohort (27). The current results suggest an additional positive effect of walking to prevent adiposity.…”

Gene–Environment Interplay Between Physical Exercise and Fitness and Depression Symptomatology

“…Moreover, it has often been the genetic variance, rather than variance attributable to between- (shared) or within-family (nonshared) environmental influences, that has been constrained, though this has not always been the case. For example, perhaps with particular relevance, Johnson et al ( 2015 ) observed that variance in most of six different measures of body adiposity was lower at higher levels of both typical metabolic-equivalent energy expenditure of task (MET) and cycle fitness, as have several other studies (e.g., Ahmad et al 2013 ; Heitmann et al 1997 ; Karnehad et al 2006 ; Kilpelainen et al 2011 , 2009; Rankinen and Bouchard 2012 ; Silventoinen et al 2009 ; Williams 2011 ). Importantly, however, (Johnson et al 2011 ) extended prior work to examine particular variance components that were moderated differed among the adiposity measures in ways offering indications of the involved social, psychological, and metabolic pathways that could be helpful in designing interventions using exercise to combat obesity with further confirmation and test.…”

Evidence That Obesity Risk Factor Potencies Are Weight Dependent, a Phenomenon That May Explain Accelerated Weight Gain in Western Societies

“…Standard least squares regression analyses were again used to define the linear combinations of mother's and father's BMIs that best described their offspring's BMI separately in female (0.73mother + 0.79father) and male (0.82mother + 0.59father) participants of Study 1, and female (0.47mother +0.34father) and male (0.52mother +0.37father) participants of Study 2 when adjusted for other covariates. These linear combinations define the high-risk family history index for weight gain used in the analyses [49] .…”