13 research outputs found
Blood pressure values and depression in hypertensive individuals at high cardiovascular risk
Adherence to Mediterranean diet is associated with methylation changes in inflammation-related genes in peripheral blood cells
Identification of potential erythrocyte phospholipid fatty acid biomarkers of advanced lung adenocarcinoma, squamous cell lung carcinoma, and small cell lung cancer
Customary Land Reform to Facilitate Private Investment in Zambia: Achievements, Potential and Limitations
Hydrothermal fabrication and characterization of novel CeO2/PbWO4 nanocomposite for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance
Behavioral and environmental modification of the genetic influence on body mass index: A twin study
Body mass index (BMI) has a strong genetic basis, with a heritability around 0.75, but is also influenced by numerous behavioral and environmental factors. Aspects of the built environment (e.g., environmental walkability) are hypothesized to influence obesity by directly affecting BMI, by facilitating or inhibiting behaviors such as physical activity that are related to BMI, or by suppressing genetic tendencies toward higher BMI. The present study investigated relative influences of physical activity and walkability on variance in BMI using 5,079 same-sex adult twin pairs (70% monozygotic, 65% female). High activity and walkability levels independently suppressed genetic variance in BMI. Estimating their effects simultaneously, however, suggested that the walkability effect was mediated by activity. The suppressive effect of activity on variance in BMI was present even with a tendency for low-BMI individuals to select into environments that require higher activity levels. Overall, our results point to community- or macro-level interventions that facilitate individual-level behaviors as a plausible approach to addressing the obesity epidemic among U.S. adults