6533b856fe1ef96bd12b2645

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Gene-environment interactions between education and body mass: Evidence from the UK and Finland

Vikesh AminNiina PitkänenMelissa C. SmartYanchun BaoPetri BöckermanOlli T. RaitakariJaakko PehkonenTerho LehtimäkiMeena KumariJutta Viinikainen

subject

0301 basic medicineAdultMaleta520obesityHealth (social science)OverweightBiologyBody Mass Index03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineLower bodyHistory and Philosophy of SciencekoulutustasoNegatively associatedmedicineHumansMass indexGenetic Predisposition to Diseaseta516030212 general & internal medicineLongitudinal StudiesGene–environment interactionGeneFinlandAged2. Zero hungerAged 80 and overeducationta511nutritional and metabolic diseasesylipainogene-environment interactionsta3142Middle AgedOverweightmedicine.diseaseObesityUnited Kingdom030104 developmental biologykoulutusEducational StatuslihavuusFemaleGene-Environment Interactionmedicine.symptomgeneettiset tekijätBody mass indexDemography

description

More education is associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and likelihood of being overweight. However, since a large proportion of the variation in body mass is due to genetic makeup, it has been hypothesized that education may moderate the genetic risk. We estimate main associations between (i) education, (ii) genetic risk, and (iii) interactions between education and genetic risk on BMI and the probability of being overweight in the UK and Finland. The estimates show that education is negatively associated with BMI and overweightness, and genetic risk is positively associated. However, the interactions between education and genetic risk are small and statistically insignificant. peerReviewed

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2017-01-01Social Science and Medicine
10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.10.027https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.10.027