Causal beliefs about obesity and associated health behaviors: results from a population-based survey
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Causal beliefs about obesity and associated health behaviors: results from a population-based survey Catharine Wang1*, Elliot J Coups2,3
Abstract Background: Several genetic variants are associated with obesity risk. Promoting the notion of genes as a cause for obesity may increase genetically deterministic beliefs and decrease motivation to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors. Little is known about whether causal beliefs about obesity are associated with lifestyle behaviors. Study objectives were as follows: 1) to document the prevalence of various causal beliefs about obesity (i.e., genes versus lifestyle behaviors), and 2) to determine the association between obesity causal beliefs and self-reported dietary and physical activity behaviors. Methods: The study data were drawn from the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). A total of 3,534 individuals were included in the present study. Results: Overall, 72% of respondents endorsed the belief that lifestyle behaviors have ‘a lot’ to do with causing obesity, whereas 19% indicated that inheritance has ‘a lot’ to do with causing obesity. Multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that the belief that obesity is inherited was associated with lower reported levels of physical activity (OR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.77-0.99) and fruit and vegetable consumption (OR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.76-0.99). In contrast, the belief that obesity is caused by lifestyle behaviors was associated with greater reported levels of physical activity (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.03-1.62), but was not associated with fruit and vegetable intake (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.90-1.28). Conclusions: Causal beliefs about obesity are associated with some lifestyle behaviors. Additional research is needed to determine whether promoting awareness of the genetic determinants of obesity will decrease the extent to which individuals will engage in the lifestyle behaviors essential to healthy weight management.
Introduction The causes of obesity are multifactorial [1]. Recent evidence has begun to shed light on the genetic contributions to obesity [2]. In the 2005 update of the human obesity gene map, 127 candidate genes for obesity were reported, 22 of which were replicated with multiple populations [3]. The majority of rare monogenic or single-gene disorders related to obesity appear to function via the regulation of appetite and impairment of satiety rather than the regulation of metabolism [2,4,5]. Common obesity, however, is mostly polygenic and due to the contribution of multiple genes and genetic variants.
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Boston University School of Public Health, Boston MA, USA
Advances in obesity genetics, as well as the genetics of common diseases, has led to a proliferation of direct-toconsumer marketing of genetic tests that enable the identification of one’s genetic risk for these conditions. It has been argued that such testing is premature, given the state of the science, and concerns have been raised about the clinical utility of this type of ris
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