Genes Play Heavy Role in Weight Gain;Studies of Twins Show Diet, Environment Have Lesser Effects
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The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext)
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Washington, D.C.
a.01
A SECTION
946
Susan Okie
The members of each pair of identical twins gained similar amounts of weight in response to overfeeding, but the difference among pairs was remarkable. After eating exactly the same number of excess calories, one man in the study gained only 9 1/2 pounds, while another gained almost 30. The brothers of each of these men gained almost the same amounts. The variation among pairs was three times as great as the differences seen between members of the same pair.
The researchers found even wider variations when they measured whether extra fat showed up on the men’s middles or on their hips and thighs. Identical twins tended to gain weight in identical places. The variation among the pairs with respect to fat distribution was six times greater than that within pairs, said Claude Bouchard, a professor of exercise physiology and the study’s principal author.
[Albert J. Stunkard]’s study on the twins raised apart is the first to separate the effect of heredity on adult weight from that of early childhood diet, because it is the first to study a large number of identical twins who grew up in different families. Using a sample drawn from a Swedish national twin registry, Stunkard and his coworkers examined differences among 93 pairs of identical twins reared apart, 154 pairs of identical twins reared together, 218 pairs of fraternal twins reared apart, and 208 pairs of fraternal twins reared together.
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