Dataset Information

Modification effects of physical activity and protein intake on heritability of body size and composition.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The development of obesity is still a poorly understood process that is dependent on both genetic and environmental factors.

Objective

The objective was to examine how physical activity and the proportion of energy as protein in the diet modify the genetic variation of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and percentage body fat.

Design

Twins from Denmark (756 complete pairs) and Finland (278 complete pairs) aged 18-67 and 21-24 y, respectively, participated. The proportion of energy as protein in the diet was estimated by using food-frequency questionnaires. The participants reported the frequency and intensity of their leisure time physical activity. Waist circumference and BMI were measured. Percentage body fat was assessed in Denmark by using a bioelectrical impedance method. The data were analyzed by using gene-environment interaction models for twin data with the Mx statistical package (Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA).

Results

High physical activity was associated with lower mean values, and a high proportion of protein in the diet was associated with higher mean BMI, waist circumference, and percentage body fat and a reduction in genetic and environmental variances. Genetic modification by physical activity was statistically significant for BMI (-0.18; 95% CI: -0.31, -0.05) and waist circumference (-0.14; 95% CI: -0.22, -0.05) in the merged data. A high proportion of protein in the diet reduced genetic and environmental variances in BMI and waist circumference in Danish men but not in women or in Finnish men.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that, in physically active individuals, the genetic variation in weight is reduced, which possibly suggests that physical activity is able to modify the action of the genes responsible for predisposition to obesity, whereas the protein content of the diet has no appreciable effect.

SUBMITTER: Silventoinen K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2744628 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Modification effects of physical activity and protein intake on heritability of body size and composition.

Silventoinen Karri K Hasselbalch Ann Louise AL Lallukka Tea T Bogl Leonie L Pietiläinen Kirsi H KH Heitmann Berit L BL Schousboe Karoline K Rissanen Aila A Kyvik Kirsten O KO Sørensen Thorkild I A TI Kaprio Jaakko J

The American journal of clinical nutrition 20090826 4

<h4>Background</h4>The development of obesity is still a poorly understood process that is dependent on both genetic and environmental factors.<h4>Objective</h4>The objective was to examine how physical activity and the proportion of energy as protein in the diet modify the genetic variation of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and percentage body fat.<h4>Design</h4>Twins from Denmark (756 complete pairs) and Finland (278 complete pairs) aged 18-67 and 21-24 y, respectively, participat ...[more]

PMID: 19710197

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Higher protein (HP) intake and physical activity (PA) have been associated with improved lean soft tissue (LST) and reduced fat mass (FM). Puerto Ricans have among the highest age-adjusted prevalence (42.5%) of obesity, which may be associated with inadequate protein consumption and PA. We examined the relationship between protein intake and PA with body composition and biomarkers of cardiometabolic health in Puerto Rican adults. METHODS:Participants included 959 Puerto Rican adults (71.4% women, 28.6% men) from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS), aged 46-79 y (Women: age, 60.4 ± 7.6 y, BMI, 32.9 ± 6.8 kg/m2; Men: age, 59.8 ± 7.9 y, BMI, 30.1 ± 5.2 kg/m2). Protein intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire and expressed as g/kg body weight/day in energy intake-adjusted equal cut point tertile categories (lower, moderate, higher: LP < 0.91 g/kg/d, MP ? 0.91 ? 1.11 g/kg/d, and HP > 1.11 g/kg/d). PA was assessed by questionnaire and expressed in tertile categories (low, moderate and high; PA1: <0.8 km/d, PA2: ?0.8 ? 3.2 km/d, PA3: >3.2 km/d). RESULTS:Participants with energy-adjusted HP had lower appendicular LST (ALST: 16.2 ± 3.8 kg), LST (39.7 ± 8.0 kg) and FM (25.6 ± 8.1 kg) when compared to LP (ALST: 20.1 ± 4.5 kg; LST: 49.5 ± 10.0 kg; FM: 40.8 ± 12.3 kg; P < 0.001) and MP (ALST: 18.2 ± 4.3 kg; LST: 44.1 ± 8.8 kg; FM: 32.2 ± 9.8 kg; P < 0.001). However, when adjusted for total body weight (kg), relative LST was significantly greater in HP (58 ± 9%) when compared to LP (53 ± 9%; P < 0.001) and MP (56 ± 9%; P < 0.001). Participants in PA3 had greater ALST (19.5 ± 5.4 kg), and LST (58 ± 10%), compared to PA1 (ALST: 17.2 ± 4.3 kg; LST: 53 ± 9%; P < 0.001) or PA2 (ALST: 17.7 ± 4.7 kg; LST: 56 ± 9%; P < 0.05). Those in HP + PA3 or MP + PA2 had lower c-reactive protein (CRP; HP + PA3: 5.1 ± 6.8 mg/L; MP + PA2: 6.4 ± 10.0 mg/L), when compared to LP + PA1 (8.7 ± 8.8 mg/L; P < 0.05). Insulin concentration was lower for those in both the HP and PA3 (HP + PA3; 11.4 ± 7.9 IU/mL) compared to those in both the LP and PA1 (LP + PA1; 20.7 ± 16.3 UI/mL) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:The highest tertiles of energy-adjusted protein intake (?1.11 g/kg/d) and PA (>3.2 km/d) were associated with more desirable indicators of overall body composition and cardiometabolic health, when adjusted for body weight, than those in the lower protein intake and PA in Puerto Rican adults.

Project description:Heritability estimates of human body fatness vary widely and the contribution of body composition methodology to this variability is unknown. The effect of body composition methodology on estimations of genetic and environmental contributions to body fatness variation was examined in 78 adult male and female monozygotic twin pairs reared apart or together. Body composition was assessed by six methods - body mass index (BMI), dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), underwater weighing (UWW), total body water (TBW), bioelectric impedance (BIA), and skinfold thickness. Body fatness was expressed as percent body fat, fat mass, and fat mass/height2 to assess the effect of body fatness expression on heritability estimates. Model-fitting multivariate analyses were used to assess the genetic and environmental components of variance. Mean BMI was 24.5 kg/m2 (range of 17.8-43.4 kg/m2). There was a significant effect of body composition methodology (p<0.001) on heritability estimates, with UWW giving the highest estimate (69%) and BIA giving the lowest estimate (47%) for fat mass/height2. Expression of body fatness as percent body fat resulted in significantly higher heritability estimates (on average 10.3% higher) compared to expression as fat mass/height2 (p=0.015). DXA and TBW methods expressing body fatness as fat mass/height2 gave the least biased heritability assessments, based on the small contribution of specific genetic factors to their genetic variance. A model combining DXA and TBW methods resulted in a relatively low FM/ht2 heritability estimate of 60%, and significant contributions of common and unique environmental factors (22% and 18%, respectively). The body fatness heritability estimate of 60% indicates a smaller contribution of genetic variance to total variance than many previous studies using less powerful research designs have indicated. The results also highlight the importance of environmental factors and possibly genotype by environmental interactions in the etiology of weight gain and the obesity epidemic.

Project description:Physical inactivity has emerged as an important and risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, independent of levels of exercise engagement. Moreover, inactivity is associated with poor brain functioning. However, little data on the effects of physical inactivity on the brain is available and few methods are suitable to investigate this matter. We tested whether preventing lid climbing and reducing cage size could be used to model physical inactivity in mice. Sixty young adult C57Bl6 mice (10 weeks old) were divided over six groups with different housing conditions: in cages of three different sizes with lids that either allowed or prevented lid climbing. Housing under these conditions was maintained for a period of 19 weeks before the mice were killed for body composition analysis. Physical fitness tests performed around 5 and 10 weeks into the intervention revealed that motor coordination in the balance beam test was reduced by 30.65%, grip strength by 8.91% and muscle stamina in the inverted screen test by 70.37% in non-climbing mice as compared to climbing controls. Preventing climbing increased visceral fat mass by 17.31%, but did not reduce muscle mass. Neither preventing climbing nor reducing cage size affected anxiety assessed in the Open Field test and the Elevated Plus Maze. We did not find any negative effect of inactivity on spatial learning and memory in the novel object location test or working memory measured with the Y-maze Alternation test. The reduced physical fitness and increase in visceral fat mass show that our inactivity method models most effects of physical inactivity that are observed in experimental and observational studies in humans. Whereas established methods such as hindlimb unloading mimic many of the effects of bed rest, our novel method can be applied to study the effects of less extreme forms of physical inactivity (i.e., sedentary behavior) in various disease models including rodent models for brain diseases (i.e., stroke, Alzheimer's disease).

Dataset Information

Modification effects of physical activity and protein intake on heritability of body size and composition.

Background

Objective

Design

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Modification effects of physical activity and protein intake on heritability of body size and composition.

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