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

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 (p=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.