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Cited by 261Genetics and Physical PerformanceGenetic Associations and EpidemiologyGenetic and phenotypic traits in livestock

Heritability of body size and muscle strength in young adulthood: a study of one million Swedish men

Silventoinen, Karri, Magnusson, Patrik K. E., Tynelius, Per, Kaprio, Jaakko, Rasmussen, Finn·2008·Genetic Epidemiology
DOI 10.1002/gepi.20308
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Abstract

Moderate heritability for skeletal muscle strength has been reported in twin studies, but genetic co-variation between muscle strength at different parts of body and body size is not well known. Further, representativeness of twin cohorts needs to be critically evaluated. Height, weight, elbow flexion, hand grip and knee extension strength were measured in young adulthood in 1,139,963 Swedish men born between 1951 and 1976. We identified 154,970 full-brother pairs and 1582 monozygotic (MZ) and 1864 same-sex dizygotic (DZ) complete twin pairs. The data were analyzed using quantitative genetic modeling for twin and family data. Twins compared to singletons and MZ twins compared to DZ twins were shorter, lighter and had lower muscle strength. In singletons, there was more variation in weight and the strength measures compared to twins with known zygosity but not when compared to twins with unknown zygosity. Full-sib correlations for these traits were lower than DZ correlations. Additive genetic factors explained 81% of variation in height, 59% in body mass index and 50-60% in the strength measures. Additive genetic correlations varied from 0.13 between height and elbow flexion strength to 0.78 between elbow flexion and hand grip strength. Our results suggest that extra variation may exist in general populations not found in twin samples, probably because of selection due to non-participation. This may have inflated heritability estimates in previous twin studies. Nonetheless, we showed that genetic factors affect muscle strength and part of these genes are common to different strength indicators and body size.

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  • Among nonhormonal factors, genetics explains a large proportion (~50% to 60% from pooled twin studies) of the variability in muscle mass and strength.

    “Among the nonhormonal factors, genetics explains a large proportion [∼50% to 60% from pooled twin studies (156)] of the variability in muscle mass and strength (157, 158) and may be explained in turn by the equally high genetic contributions to circulating testosterone (37, 38).”

    From Circulating Testosterone as the Hormonal Basis of Sex Differences in Athletic Performance (2018) · cites this paper as [158]

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Authors
Silventoinen, K., Magnusson, P. K. E., Tynelius, P., Kaprio, J., & Rasmussen, F.
Affiliations
  • University of Helsinki (FI)
  • Karolinska Institutet (SE)
Corresponding author
Rasmussen, Finn
ORCID
Venue
Genetic Epidemiology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2008-02-12
Volume
32
Issue
4
Pages
341-349
ISSN
  • 0741-0395 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-2272
DOI
10.1002/gepi.20308
OpenAlex
W2024250377
Cited by
261
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 23
FWCI
7.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Genetic Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Academy of Finland
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Physical Performance
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
Keywords
heritability, body size, muscle strength, height, body mass index, grip strength, quadriceps strength, elbow flexion strength, monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, additive genetic effects, genetic correlation, young men
MeSH terms
Adult, Biometry, Epidemiologic Methods, Humans, Male, Models, Genetic, Sweden, Twins, Dizygotic, Twins, Monozygotic, Cohort Studies, Multivariate Analysis, Siblings, Body Size, Muscle Strength

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