Heritability of somatotype components: a multivariate analysis

Heritability of somatotype components: a multivariate analysis

Objective: To study the genetic and environmental determination of variation in Heath-Carter somatotype (ST) components (endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy). Design: Multivariate path analysis on twin data. Subjects: Eight hundred and three members of 424 adult Flemish twin pairs (18-34 years of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Obesity Vol. 31; no. 8; pp. 1295 - 1301
Main Authors: Peeters, M.W, Thomis, M.A, Loos, R.J.F, Derom, C.A, Fagard, R, Claessens, A.L, Vlietinck, R.F, Beunen, G.P
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing 01-08-2007
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
Adipose tissue
Adipose Tissue - physiology
Adolescent
Adolescents
Adult
adults
Analysis
anthropometric measurements
Belgium
Biological and medical sciences
body composition
body fat distribution
Body Mass Index
cohort studies
environmental factors
Feeding. Feeding behavior
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
gender differences
Genetic aspects
genetic variance
Genetics
heritability
human genetics
Humans
inheritance (genetics)
Male
Medical sciences
men
Metabolic diseases
Multivariate Analysis
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Obesity
Obesity - genetics
Obesity - physiopathology
Phenotype
Physiological aspects
Sex Characteristics
somatotype
Somatotypes
Somatotypes - genetics
twins
Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
women
Belgium
Human
Path analysis
Obesity
Nutrition
Nutrition disorder
adults
Metabolic diseases
Genetic character
Multivariate analysis
Twin
twins
Somatotype
Adult
Heritability
Nutritional status
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Summary:Objective: To study the genetic and environmental determination of variation in Heath-Carter somatotype (ST) components (endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy). Design: Multivariate path analysis on twin data. Subjects: Eight hundred and three members of 424 adult Flemish twin pairs (18-34 years of age). Results: The results indicate the significance of sex differences and the significance of the covariation between the three ST components. After age-regression, variation of the population in ST components and their covariation is explained by additive genetic sources of variance (A), shared (familial) environment (C) and unique environment (E). In men, additive genetic sources of variance explain 28.0% (CI 8.7-50.8%), 86.3% (71.6-90.2%) and 66.5% (37.4-85.1%) for endomorphy, mesomorphy and ectomorphy, respectively. For women, corresponding values are 32.3% (8.9-55.6%), 82.0% (67.7-87.7%) and 70.1% (48.9-81.8%). For all components in men and women, more than 70% of the total variation was explained by sources of variance shared between the three components, emphasising the importance of analysing the ST in a multivariate way. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the high heritabilities for mesomorphy and ectomorphy reported in earlier twin studies in adolescence are maintained in adulthood. For endomorphy, which represents a relative measure of subcutaneous adipose tissue, however, the results suggest heritability may be considerably lower than most values reported in earlier studies on adolescent twins. The heritability is also lower than values reported for, for example, body mass index (BMI), which next to the weight of organs and adipose tissue also includes muscle and bone tissue. Considering the differences in heritability between musculoskeletal robustness (mesomorphy) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (endomorphy) it may be questioned whether studying the genetics of BMI will eventually lead to a better understanding of the genetics of fatness, obesity and overweight.
Bibliography:http://www.nature.com/ijo/
ISSN:0307-0565
1476-5497
DOI:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803575