Citation

Wills AG, Evans LM, Hopfer CJ. Behav. Genet. 2017; 47(3): 290-297.

Affiliation

Division of Substance Dependence, Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 12469 E 17th Place, Bldg 400, Mail Stop F478, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10519-017-9838-2

PMID

28238197

Abstract

The health impairments derived from both alcoholism and obesity are well known. However, reports that relate increased alcohol use with increased measures of obesity have been mixed in their findings, especially with respect to genetic factors that could potentially link these two behaviors. Here, using a large sample of adults from the UK (n ≈ 113,000), we report both the observed and genetic correlations between BMI (kg/m(2)) and two measures of alcohol use: reported quantity (drinks per week) and frequency of use (from never to daily). Overall, both observationally and genetically, alcohol intake is negatively correlated with BMI. Phenotypic correlations ranged from -0.01 to -0.17, and genetic correlations ranged from -0.1 to -0.4. Genetic correlations tended to be stronger than the phenotypic correlations, and these correlations were stronger in females and between BMI and, specifically, frequency of use. Though the mechanisms driving these relationships are yet to be identified, we can conclude that the genetic factors related to drinking both more and more often are shared with those responsible for lower BMI.

Language: en

Keywords

Alcohol use; BMI; Genetic correlation; Obesity; SNP heritability; UK Biobank