Objectives: An investigation was conducted on the influence of genetic and lifestyle factors related to the determination of eating behavior of human beings. The objective was to obtain information about lifestyle factors that may help health professionals intervene in terms of the prevention of diet-related diseases.
Methods: The subjects were 180 pairs of adult twins aged over thirty, comprising of 134 monozygotic (MZ) and 46 dizygotic (DZ) pairs. Every subject was given an interview concerning dietary habits, food preference, food intake, as a part of medical examination. The intake of food containing salt and fat, the intake of food meals, the frequency of daily meals, and the frequency of eating 18 sorts of food were assessed on an individual basis, with a questionnaire on nutrition. The expected and observed values of intrapair concordance rates were calculated, and compared within each zygosity, using the chi-square test.
Results: Significant differences between the expected and observed for intrapair concordance rates were shown with monozygotic twins, regarding every category of question. Comparing MZ pairs who had lived apart before their twenties with the other MZ pairs, the latter had a tendency to show significant differences between the expected and observed values of intrapair concordance rate, regarding every category of question. In each case, the observed values were higher than the expected values.
Conclusions: The study implied that both genetic and lifestyle factors influence the determinants of eating behavior of human beings. This finding shows the importance of understanding individual characteristics of food preference and eating behavior for intervention regarding lifestyle factors for prevention of diet-related diseases.