A twin study approach towards understanding genetic contributions to body size and metabolic rate
Open accessAbstract
The genetic and environmental determinants of a brief assessment of metabolic rate at rest and under psychological stress were studied in 40 pairs of monozygotic and 40 pairs of dizygotic young adult male twins. Height, weight and age were employed as covariates. Univariate analyses showed a high heritability for height and weight and moderate heritability for metabolic rate. Classical twin analyses and multivariate genetic modeling indicated that genetic influences on resting metabolic rate were entirely explained by body weight: there was no independent genetic contribution to resting metabolic rate. Metabolic rate under psychological stress, on the other hand, showed a significant genetic effect. The exponent (3/4) in the power function relating body weight to resting metabolic rate was the same as that found in a wide variety of animal species, a value that has been proposed as defining a body weight set point. We speculate that an adult body weight set point is genetically transmitted. Independent genetic effects on resting metabolic rate would be observed only when the normal equilibrium between body weight and metabolic rate is unbalanced during development, aging or disease. The study illustrates the use of multivariate genetic analyses of twin data which may be readily applied to widely used metabolic rate assessments.
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- Authors
- Hewitt, J. K., Stunkard, A. J., Carroll, D., Sims, J., & Turner, J. R.
- Affiliations
- Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hewitt, J.K.
- Venue
- Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1991-04
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 133-146
- ISSN
- 0001-5660 (ISSN-L)
- 2059-6324
- OpenAlex
- W2409621169
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH45268)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetics and Physical Performance
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Keywords
- resting metabolic rate, body size, heritability, monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, body weight, psychological stress, allometric scaling, body weight set point, genetic transmission, multivariate genetic analysis, environmental influences
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aging, Body Constitution, Body Height, Body Weight, Humans, Male, Metabolic Clearance Rate, Models, Biological, Phenotype, Stress, Psychological, Twins, Multivariate Analysis
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