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A twin study of self-regulatory eating in early childhood: estimates of genetic and environmental influence, and measurement considerations

International Journal of Obesity volume 36, pages 931–937 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

Children differ greatly in their ability to self-regulate food intake for reasons that are poorly understood. This laboratory-based twin study tested the genetic and environmental contributions to self-regulatory eating and body fat in early childhood.

Methods:

A total of 69 4–7 year-old same-sex twin pairs, including 40 monozygotic and 29 dizygotic pairs, were studied. Self-regulatory eating was operationalized as the percentage compensation index (COMPX%), assessed by a ‘preload’ challenge in which lunch intake was measured following a low- (3 kcal) or high-calorie (159 kcal) drink. Body fat indexes also were measured. The familial association for COMPX% was estimated by an intraclass correlation, and biometric analyses estimated heritability.

Results:

Children ate more at lunch following the low- compared with high-energy preload (P<0.001), although variability in COMPX% was considerable. Compensation was significantly poorer among African American and Hispanic compared with European American children, and among girls compared with boys. There was a familial association for self-regulatory eating (ρ=0.23, P=0.03) but no significant genetic component. In all, 22% of the variance in COMPX% was due to shared environmental ‘household’ factors, with the remaining variance attributable to child-specific ‘unique’ or ‘random’ environments. Poorer self-regulatory eating was associated with greater percent body fat (r=−0.21, P=0.04).

Conclusions:

Self-regulatory eating was influenced by environmental factors, especially those differing among siblings. The absence of a significant genetic effect may reflect the age of the sample or could be artifactual due to measurement issues that need to be considered in future studies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the families who enrolled in ‘Project Grow-2-gether’ for their generous and enthusiastic participation. This project was supported by the NIH grant K08-MH01530 awarded to Dr Faith. This study is funded by a grant K08 MH-01530 (MSF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Pubic Health, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    M S Faith

  2. Verona University Medical School, Verona, Italy

    A Pietrobelli

  3. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    M Heo

  4. University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA

    S L Johnson

  5. New York Obesity Research Center, St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA

    K L Keller

  6. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    S B Heymsfield

  7. University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    D B Allison

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Correspondence to M S Faith.

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Faith, M., Pietrobelli, A., Heo, M. et al. A twin study of self-regulatory eating in early childhood: estimates of genetic and environmental influence, and measurement considerations. Int J Obes 36, 931–937 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2011.258

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