Track 4: From nutrition, exercise and psychology to lifestyle

Abstract

Background: The etiology of adult obesity is still poorly understood, even if often simply attributed to too much food and too little exercise. A few studies have suggested that adverse psychological factors may predispose the development of adult obesity among normal weight children. Aims: The aim of this study was to examine if separation from parents, parental loss and living in a “children's home” during childhood could be associated with development of adult obesity. Key Methods: A total of 146 complete adult twin pairs discordant for BMI (one had a normal BMI and the co-twin a BMI > 30 kg/ m2) were identified from the Danish Twin Registry. The twins gave an interview and a physical examination in 2006. The Childhood Family Relationship Questionnaire (CFRQ) was used to assess life events. Results: Before age 17, 20.8% of the participants had been separated from mother, 26.1% had been separated from father for a period on average 4.5 years during childhood. Furthermore 9.3% of the children had experienced living in children's home and 6.8% had lost their father. There was a tendency that staying in a children's home and separation from father was related to discordance for BMI in adulthood, whereas separation from mother and paternal death was related to less discordance. However, none of these differences were significant. Conclusion: The present study did not demonstrate independent effects of major life events during childhood and development of obesity in adulthood.