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Genetics trumps environment in childhood obesity

Posted on Feb 11th 2008 5:52PM by Bev Sklar

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

As we fight to stay fit and lean, your bloodline is an ever-present contender in the ring. If your parents are overweight or obese, it can be tough not to walk in their footsteps. A new twin study reveals the power of genetics -- nature beats nurture when it comes to childhood obesity.

British researchers compared measurements of identical twins (same genes) with non-identical twins (share half their genes). While I have no idea how they crunched the stats on this, the study concluded differences in the children's body mass index and waist circumference were 77 percent attributable to genes and 23 percent to the family environment.

While this study is a bit depressing, 23 percent is an important number to focus on. If your children are genetically predisposed to obesity, this study by no means suggests there is no hope or benefit in modeling healthy eating and exercise to your children. Besides, this one study does not necessarily negate previous research identifying the environment as a major player in obesity, either.

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Tags: Bev Sklar, BevSklar, childhood obesity, childhood obesity twin study, ChildhoodObesity, ChildhoodObesityTwinStudy, obesity, obesity predisposition, ObesityPredisposition

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rae Pica 2-12-2008 @ 9:31AM

Thank you for pointing out that this one study doesn't negate others in which nurture plays a bigger role than nature. In the same week that this study was released there was another related to the affect of too little sleep on childhood obesity!

My biggest concern with this study is that parents will shrug their shoulders and assume there's nothing they can do. But, as a children's physical activity specialist, my message continues to be that, regardless of weight, ALL children need to be physically active and eat well!

Andrea 2-12-2008 @ 7:14PM

This is crap. To prove that genetics are more important, they would have to study children who were raised outside of their biological parents' home. They'd have to take a group of children from different families, put them in an institutionalized environment where they were all fed exactly the same for their caloric needs based on height, and required to do the same amount of exercise. Then they could compare those results to their parents' weights.
WHY? Because fat parents have fat kids because they eat crappy food. You can't tell me it is genetics when a whole fat family eats fast food every night. Families share diet and exercise habits, as well as genetics. To prove that genetics is what causes the obesity, they would have to remove the child from the environmental factors.
People want to blame obesity on their genes because it is easier than putting in the work to change it. Sadly, that isn't the true problem. Just watch the Biggest Loser or Honey We're Killing the Kids. Oh well, I guess you can be fat and in denial or you can admit it is your fault and change it.