Familial resemblance in fatness indicators

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Abstract
Family resemblance in fatness was studied in 481 individuals from 114 families of French descent living in the greater Quebec city area [Canada]. Subjects were measured for the following fatness indicators: triceps, biceps, subscapular, suprailiac, abdominal and medial calf skinfolds. The sum of these 6 skinfolds as well as a prediction of percent body fat were also considered. Data were standardized for appropriate age and sex classes yielding SS scores. The influence of relevant lifestyle variables (energy intake, energy expenditure and socioeconomic status) were statistically removed from SS yielding residual scores (RS) that were then submitted to familial analyses. Analyses of variance indicate that there is a larger between family variation than within (P .ltoreq. 0.01) for SS when considering either the whole nuclear family or sibships; in these instances, the intra-class correlation ranges from 0.15-0.26. There was no significant resemblance among spouses for the SS fatness indicators. Similar values were essentially found for RS fatness indicators. Husband-wife inter-class correlations were not significant with the exception of subscapular and calf skinfold RS. Covariations between biological relatives are however significant (0.16 .ltoreq. r .ltoreq. 0.24, P .ltoreq. 0.01) for SS and remain essentially unchanged after statistical control over the lifestyle variables (0.16 .ltoreq. r .ltoreq. 0.40, P .ltoreq. 0.01). Spouses do not covary significantly in fatness, while biological relatives of traditional nuclear families exhibit a significant degree of resemblance even after statistical control over daily energy intake, daily energy expenditure and socioeconomic status provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that there is a substantial genetic effect in human fatness.

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