BACKGROUND: Eating behavior may be implicated in the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity, presumably in relation to easy access to energy-dense and highly palatable foods. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to disentangle genetic and environmental influences on eating behavior in a population-based cohort of male twins. DESIGN: The study included 326 dizygotic and 456 monozygotic male twin pairs aged 23-29 y from Sweden. The revised 21-item version of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21) was used to assess eating behavior. This validated instrument consists of 3 dimensions: cognitive restraint, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the heritability of eating behavior. RESULTS: Cognitive restraint was the only TFEQ-R21 scale that significantly correlated with BMI (r = 0.39, P < 0.0001). The best-fitted models gave a heritability of 59% (95% CI: 52%, 66%) for cognitive restraint, 60% (95% CI: 52%, 67%) for emotional eating, and 45% (95% CI: 36%, 53%) for uncontrolled eating. CONCLUSIONS: These results show the great importance of genetic factors in the eating behavior of a large, unselected population of young adult male twins. Nonshared environmental factors were also important, whereas shared environmental factors did not contribute to eating behavior.
BACKGROUND: Eating behavior may be implicated in the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity, presumably in relation to easy access to energy-dense and highly palatable foods. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to disentangle genetic and environmental influences on eating behavior in a population-based cohort of male twins. DESIGN: The study included 326 dizygotic and 456 monozygotic male twin pairs aged 23-29 y from Sweden. The revised 21-item version of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21) was used to assess eating behavior. This validated instrument consists of 3 dimensions: cognitive restraint, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the heritability of eating behavior. RESULTS: Cognitive restraint was the only TFEQ-R21 scale that significantly correlated with BMI (r = 0.39, P < 0.0001). The best-fitted models gave a heritability of 59% (95% CI: 52%, 66%) for cognitive restraint, 60% (95% CI: 52%, 67%) for emotional eating, and 45% (95% CI: 36%, 53%) for uncontrolled eating. CONCLUSIONS: These results show the great importance of genetic factors in the eating behavior of a large, unselected population of young adult male twins. Nonshared environmental factors were also important, whereas shared environmental factors did not contribute to eating behavior.
Authors: Jaclyn M Zocca; Lauren B Shomaker; Marian Tanofsky-Kraff; Kelli M Columbo; Gina R Raciti; Sheila M Brady; Melissa K Crocker; Asem H Ali; Brittany E Matheson; Susan Z Yanovski; Jack A Yanovski Journal: Appetite Date: 2010-12-21 Impact factor: 3.868
Authors: Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain; Monique Romon; Dara Musher-Eizenman; Barbara Heude; Arnaud Basdevant; Marie Aline Charles Journal: Matern Child Nutr Date: 2009-04 Impact factor: 3.092
Authors: Cedrick D Dotson; Hillary L Shaw; Braxton D Mitchell; Steven D Munger; Nanette I Steinle Journal: Appetite Date: 2009-09-25 Impact factor: 3.868