GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL-INFLUENCES ON SELF-REPORTED DIET - A REARED-APART TWIN STUDY

A sample of 66 monozyogtic twins reared apart (MZA) and 51 dizygotic t wins reared apart (DZA), and 101 nontwin individuals (mostly spouses o f the twins) who participated in the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared A part (MISTRA) from 1979 to 1995 completed a self-report food frequency questionnaire. Intraclass-correlations and model-fitting analyses ind icated that approximately 30% of the variance in the self-report of di et was attributable to genetic factors, with random environmental fact ors and measurement error responsible for the remaining variance. Spou se correlations were moderate. To investigate the effects of living to gether during marriage, the absolute differences between husband and w ife on the dietary variables with years of marriage were correlated. N one of the correlations were significant. Hierarchical multiple regres sion analyses also indicated that no convergence occurred during marri age. These results suggest that sharing a current family environment e xerts minimal influence on individual differences in self-reported die t. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.