Physical activity reduces the influence of genetic effects on BMI and waist circumference: a study in young adult twins

Mustelin, Linda; Silventoinen, Karri; Pietiläinen, Kirsi H.; Rissanen, Aila; Kaprio, Jaakko

doi:10.1038/ijo.2008.258

Cited by 145 publications

(144 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…This is lower than the 78 % observed earlier by Joosen et al , but is congruent with the 55 % observed in a twin study with subjective (Mustelin et al 2009) measures of physical activity, but higher than the 37 % of the twin study with objective measurements (den Hoed et al 2013). In concordance with earlier studies, the present study suggests that the residual variance (43 %) is likely accounted for by unique environmental factors (AE model) (Cai et al 2006;Joosen et al 2005;Mustelin et al 2009;den Hoed et al 2013). However, a role for common environmental factors (ACE model) cannot be excluded, as approximately 262 twin pairs are required to detect such an effect with an additive genetic effect of 60 %, a confidence level of 0.05 and a power of 80 % (Visscher et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Heritability and genetic etiology of habitual physical activity: a twin study with objective measures

et al. 2014

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Twin studies with objective measurements suggest habitual physical activity (HPA) are modestly to highly heritable, depending on age. We aimed to confirm or refute this finding and identify relevant genetic variants using a candidate gene approach. HPA was measured for 14 days with a validated triaxial accelerometer (Tracmor) in two populations: (1) 28 monozygotic and 24 dizygotic same-sex twin pairs (aged 22 ± 5 years, BMI 21.8 ± 3.4 kg/m 2 , 21 male, 31 female pairs); (2) 52 and 65 unrelated men and women (aged 21 ± 2 years, BMI 22.0 ± 2.5 kg/m 2 ). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PPARD, PPARGC1A, NRF1 and MTOR were considered candidates. Association analyses were performed for both groups separately followed by meta-analysis. Structural equation modeling shows significant familiality for HPA, consistent with a role for additive genetic factors (heritability 57 %, 95 % CI 32-74 %, AE model) or common environmental factors (47 %, 95 % CI 23-65 %, CE model). A moderate heritability was observed for the time spent on low-and high-intensity physical activity (P B 0.05), but could not be confirmed for the time spent on moderate-intensity physical activity. For PPARD, each additional effect allele was inversely associated with HPA (P B 0.01; rs2076168 allele C) or tended to be associated with HPA (P B 0.05; rs2267668 allele G). Linkage disequilibrium existed between those two SNPs (alleles A/G and A/C, respectively) and meta-analysis showed that carriers of the AA GC haplotype were less physically active than carriers of the AA AA and AA AC haplotypes combined (P = 0.017). For PPARGC1A, carriers of AA in rs8192678 spent more time on high-intensity physical activity than GG carriers (P = 0.001). No associations were observed with SNPs in NRF1 and MTOR. In conclusion, HPA may be modestly heritable, which is confirmed by an association with variants in PPARD.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Heritability and genetic etiology of habitual physical activity: a twin study with objective measures

et al. 2014

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 A recent Finnish twin study found that physical activity reduces genetic variance of BMI and waist circumference in early adulthood. 45 This suggests that the function of genes predisposing to obesity is suppressed in physically active persons. There is also evidence suggesting a modifying effect of physical activity on specific genes; a Danish study found that the rs9939609 polymorphism of the FTO gene is associated with greater BMI in sedentary persons than in physically active persons.…”

Section: Possible Sources Of Bias In Adoption Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…41,42 Similarly, shared environmental effects are found on childhood physical activity and exercise patterns, 43 but weaken during adolescence 44 and are virtually absent in young adulthood. 45 The effect of childhood home environment thus seems to diminish when children become older and become more independent to make their own choices.When studying the role of common environment using the twin design, it is noteworthy that small studies may be underpowered to detect this effect. We found that in many existing twin studies, the effect of common environment, that is, the proportion of total variance attributable to common environmental variance, was 0.30 or less.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies

et al. 2009

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In this systematic review, we aimed to collect together all previous twin and adoption studies on childhood and adolescent obesity up to the age of 18 years. Using several sources, we identified nine twin and five adoption studies; all of these studies had used relative weight as an indicator of obesity. Except the two twin studies from the Korean population, all studies represented Caucasian populations. In a meta-analysis of these twin studies, we found that genetic factors had a strong effect on the variation of body mass index (BMI) at all ages. The common environmental factors showed a substantial effect in mid-childhood, but this effect disappeared at adolescence. Adoption studies supported the role of family environment in childhood obesity as correlations were found between adoptees and adoptive parents; however, correlations were substantially stronger between parents and their biological offspring, further supporting the importance of genetic factors. In the future, more studies implementing genetic and environmental measures into twin models are needed as they allow estimation of the proportion of total genetic variation explained by candidate genes and analyses of gene-environment interactions. More studies of genetic architecture in non-Caucasian populations, of gene-environment interactions, and of body composition and body fat distribution are needed. IntroductionChildhood obesity is one of the major public health problems in the modern world. In the period [2003][2004][2005][2006], 32% of the US children were classified as obese or overweight, 1 and increasing trends in childhood obesity are seen all over the world. 2 These results are especially alarming as overweight children show a high risk of becoming obese adults. 3,4 Childhood is an important period of life for health interventions as health-related behaviors are just in formation, and it seems possible to intervene for preventing the development of obesity. 5 Thus, it is crucial to further understand the background mechanisms of childhood obesity to find even more effective measures to prevent it before it begins to produce more or less irreversible health damages.Both genetic and environmental factors will probably contribute to childhood obesity. 6 Family studies have shown that obesity runs in families, although more detailed twin, adoption and family studies have shown that genetic differences between individuals explain a major proportion of the within-population variation in body mass index (BMI, kg m À2 ) in adulthood. [7][8][9] It is probable that genetic factors have an important role in childhood obesity also, but their role may be different or they may result from other genes than those that operate in adulthood. 10 The environmental factors shared by family members, such as co-twins in twin studies, have shown only a slight effect on the variation of adult BMI. 7,8 However, they may have a more important role in childhood, where parents and their offspring live together and where siblings obviously have a much greater opportu...

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“…In another study of Finnish twins the correlation between self-reported and measured BMI was very high [25].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Leisure-time physical activity and type 2 diabetes during a 28 year follow-up in twins

et al. 2010

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Aims/hypothesis The study aimed to investigate whether baseline physical activity protects against the occurrence of type 2 diabetes during a 28 year follow-up, after controlling for childhood environment and genetic predisposition. Methods At baseline in 1975 same-sex twin pairs born in Finland before 1958 were sent a questionnaire including questions on physical activity. The participants (20,487 individuals, including 8,182 complete twin pairs) were divided into quintiles by leisure-time physical activity metabolic equivalent (MET) index (MET h/day). Type 2 diabetes was determined from nationwide registers for the follow-up period (1 January 1976-31 December 2004). Individual and pairwise Cox proportional hazard models were used. Results During follow-up, 1,082 type 2 diabetes cases were observed. Among all individuals, participants in MET quintiles (Q) III-V had significantly decreased risk for type 2 diabetes compared with sedentary individuals (QI). The pairwise analysis on pairs discordant for physical activity showed that participants in MET QII to V had significantly lower hazard ratios (0.61, 0.59, 0.61, 0.61) compared with sedentary participants. These findings from the pairwise analysis persisted after adjusting for BMI. In the pairwise analysis, the BMI-adjusted hazard ratio for type 2 diabetes was lower for physically active members of twin pairs (combined QII-V) than for inactive co-twins (HR 0.54; 95% CI 0.37-0.78). Similar results were obtained for both dizygotic and monozygotic pairs, as well as for the subgroup of twin pairs defined as free of co-morbidities in 1981 (HR 0.36;

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Physical activity reduces the influence of genetic effects on BMI and waist circumference: a study in young adult twins

Cited by 145 publications

References 37 publications

Heritability and genetic etiology of habitual physical activity: a twin study with objective measures

Heritability and genetic etiology of habitual physical activity: a twin study with objective measures

The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies

Leisure-time physical activity and type 2 diabetes during a 28 year follow-up in twins

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