ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2017
Gene-obesogenic environment interactions in the UK Biobank study.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 151 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
151 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Socioeconomic position, genetic susceptibility, and epigenetic profiles in obesity across the life course: a systematic review.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Pooled it
- Gene-environment interplay explaining individual variation in BMI outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies using polygenic indices.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Pooled it
- Polygenic Risk and Nutrient Intake Interactions on Obesity Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Effect of Gene-Lifestyle Interactions on Metabolic-Disease-Related Traits in South Asian Populations.Nutrition reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Interactions between Polygenic Risk of Obesity and Dietary Factors on Anthropometric Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.The Journal of nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- Variance-quantitative trait loci enable systematic discovery of gene-environment interactions for cardiometabolic serum biomarkers.Nature communications · 2022Pooled it
- Communicating evidence about the environment's role in obesity and support for government policies to tackle obesity: a systematic review with meta-analysis.Health psychology review · 2022Pooled it
- Family Socioeconomic Position and Lung Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis and a Mendelian Randomization Study.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Socioeconomic position and body composition in childhood in high- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2021Pooled it
- Life course socioeconomic position and body composition in adulthood: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2021Pooled it
- Area-Level Determinants in Colorectal Cancer Spatial Clustering Studies: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Adolescent weight gain trajectories and their associations with biological aging: a genetically informed study.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Unravelling obesity: from leptin to glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists.Journal of applied genetics · 2026Review
- Identification of novel candidate neural genes for diet-induced obesity in outbred heterogeneous stock rats.Research square · 2026Article
- Incorporating polygenic risk scores and social determinants of health across populations: Considerations and best practices in research.American journal of human genetics · 2026Review
- The Association between the Obesogenic Environment and BMI Independent of Familial Factors: A Cross-Sectional Twin Study.Obesity facts · 2026Article
- A biobank-scale method for learning modulators of gene-environment interaction underlying human complex traits from multiple environmental exposures.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- From Recognition to Action: Bridging Science and Policy through the Italian Obesity Law - A Model for Europe.Obesity facts · 2026Article
- Transfer learning-based two-sample Mendelian randomization method for heterogeneous population.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2026Article
- A machine learning-derived polygenic risk score reveals that healthy lifestyle counteracts obesity-related mortality.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
91 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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17 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Background: Previous studies have suggested that modern obesogenic environments accentuate the genetic risk of obesity. However, these studies have proven controversial as to which, if any, measures of the environment accentuate genetic susceptibility to high body mass index (BMI). Methods: We used up to 120 000 adults from the UK Biobank study to test the hypothesis that high-risk obesogenic environments and behaviours accentuate genetic susceptibility to obesity. We used BMI as the outcome and a 69-variant genetic risk score (GRS) for obesity and 12 measures of the obesogenic environment as exposures. These measures included Townsend deprivation index (TDI) as a measure of socio-economic position, TV watching, a 'Westernized' diet and physical activity. We performed several negative control tests, including randomly selecting groups of different average BMIs, using a simulated environment and including sun-protection use as an environment. Results: We found gene-environment interactions with TDI (Pinteraction = 3 × 10 -10 ), self-reported TV watching (Pinteraction = 7 × 10 -5 ) and self-reported physical activity (Pinteraction = 5 × 10 -6 ). Within the group of 50% living in the most relatively deprived situations, carrying 10 additional BMI-raising alleles was associated with approximately 3.8 kg extra weight in someone 1.73 m tall. In contrast, within the group of 50% living in the least deprivation, carrying 10 additional BMI-raising alleles was associated with approximately 2.9 kg extra weight. The interactions were weaker, but present, with the negative controls, including sun-protection use, indicating that residual confounding is likely. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the obesogenic environment accentuates the risk of obesity in genetically susceptible adults. Of the factors we tested, relative social deprivation best captures the aspects of the obesogenic environment responsible.
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