Driven to Be Inactive?—The Genetics of Physical Activity

Abstract

The health implications of physical inactivity, including its integral role in promoting obesity, are well known and have been well documented. Physical activity is a multifactorial behavior with various factors playing a role in determining individual physical activity levels. Research using both human and animal models in the past several years has clearly indicated that genetics is associated with physical activity. Furthermore, researchers have identified several significant and suggestive genomic quantitative trait loci associated with physical activity. To date, the identities of the causal genes underlying physical activity regulation are unclear, with few strong candidate genes. The current research provides a foundation from which future confirmatory research can be launched as well as determination of the mechanisms through which the genetic factors act. The application of this knowledge could significantly augment the information available for physical activity behavior change interventions resulting in more efficient programs for those predisposed to be inactive.

Envelhecimento ativo: prevalência e diferenças de gênero e idade em estudo de base populacional

“…The prevalence rates in the current study, both for men and women, are also similar to those seen in Brazil's state capitals (29.4% and 18%, respectively) 23 . Some authors have suggested that this difference may be due to a genetic predisposition to be more or less physically active 27 , but any such predisposition is purportedly mediated by a series of biological, psychological, social, and environmental factors that accumulate over time and affect the later stages of life 28 . Consistent with this perspective, evidence indicates that leisure-time physical activity in Cad.…”

Mobility as an emergent property of biological organization: Insights from experimental evolution

“…Narrow‐sense heritability for wheel running among the High Runner mice has been estimated in various ways (for example, offspring‐on‐parent regression and response to selection over the first several generations), all of which have yielded values of around 0.25 . Interestingly, this value is very close to the average heritability estimate for physical activity level among humans derived from family resemblance studies, although reported heritability estimates of human physical activity range rather widely (between 18% and 92%), likely reflecting the greater difficulty of controlling for environmental variables in humans than in experimental animals.…”

Sex-specific genetic effects in physical activity: results from a quantitative genetic analysis

“…Here we treat sex as a composite internal environment [ 9 , 10 ], and we ask if the sex environment has a significant effect on the genetic variation underlying PA levels. Although results on the genetics of PA have increased over the last decade [ 11 – 15 ], there is still little known about how sex affects the genetic determinants of different expressions of PA phenotypes [ 16 ]. Previous studies that employed family designs in the genetic analysis of PA levels have demonstrated that genetic effects can account for a significant proportion (as high as 60 %) of PA variability [ 17 – 21 ].…”