ArticleInternational journal of obesity (2005)2019
Inference about causation between body mass index and DNA methylation in blood from a twin family study.
Article in International journal of obesity (2005), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epigenome-wide association study of BMI in Black populations from InterGEN and GENOA.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2023Pooled it
- DNA methylation and body mass index from birth to adolescence: meta-analyses of epigenome-wide association studies.Genome medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Epigenome-wide analysis of DNA-methylation signatures following climate-related disasters.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- DNA methylation associated with the serum alanine aminotransferase concentration: evidence from Chinese monozygotic twins.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- Breast and bowel cancers diagnosed in people 'too young to have cancer': A blueprint for research using family and twin studies.Genetic epidemiology · 2024Article
- Causation and familial confounding as explanations for the associations of polygenic risk scores with breast cancer: Evidence from innovative ICE FALCON and ICE CRISTAL analyses.Genetic epidemiology · 2024Article
- DNA Methylation Patterns Associated with Tinnitus in Young Adults-A Pilot Study.Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO · 2024Article
- Longitudinal analysis of epigenome-wide DNA methylation reveals novel loci associated with BMI change in East Asians.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Article
- Epigenome-wide association study identifies DNA methylation loci associated with handgrip strength in Chinese monozygotic twins.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Article
- Causal relationships between breast cancer risk factors based on mammographic features.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2023Article
- Identification of key DNA methylation changes on fasting plasma glucose: a genome-wide DNA methylation analysis in Chinese monozygotic twins.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2023Article
- Epigenome-wide association study in Chinese monozygotic twins identifies DNA methylation loci associated with blood pressure.Clinical epigenetics · 2023Article
- Article
- Does genetic predisposition modify the effect of lifestyle-related factors on DNA methylation?Epigenetics · 2022Article
- DNA methylome analysis identifies BMI-related epigenetic changes associated with non-small cell lung cancer susceptibility.Cancer medicine · 2021Article
- Characterization of cerebrospinal fluid DNA methylation age during the acute recovery period following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.Epigenetics communications · 2021Article
- Article
- Inference about causation from examination of familial confounding (ICE FALCON): a model for assessing causation analogous to Mendelian randomization.International journal of epidemiology · 2020Article
- Replicating associations between DNA methylation and body mass index in a longitudinal sample of older twins.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2020Article
- Deciphering the DNA Methylome of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.Molecular diagnosis & therapy · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSeveral studies have reported DNA methylation in blood to be associated with body mass index (BMI), but few have investigated causal aspects of the association. We used a twin family design to assess this association at two life points and applied a novel analytical approach to appraise the evidence for causality.
methodsThe methylation profile of DNA from peripheral blood was measured for 479 Australian women from 130 twin families. Linear regression was used to estimate the associations of DNA methylation at ~410,000 cytosine-guanine dinucleotides (CpGs), and of the average DNA methylation at ~20,000 genes, with current BMI, BMI at age 18-21 years, and the change between the two (BMI change). A novel regression-based methodology for twins, Inference about Causation through Examination of Familial Confounding (ICE FALCON), was used to assess causation.
resultsAt a 5% false discovery rate, nine, six and 12 CpGs at 24 loci were associated with current BMI, BMI at age 18-21 years and BMI change, respectively. The average DNA methylation of the BHLHE40 and SOCS3 loci was associated with current BMI, and of the PHGDH locus with BMI change. From the ICE FALCON analyses with BMI as the predictor and DNA methylation as the outcome, a woman's DNA methylation level was associated with her co-twin's BMI, and the association disappeared after conditioning on her own BMI, consistent with BMI causing DNA methylation. To the contrary, using DNA methylation as the predictor and BMI as the outcome, a woman's BMI was not associated with her co-twin's DNA methylation level, consistent with DNA methylation not causing BMI.
conclusionFor middle-aged women, peripheral blood DNA methylation at several genomic locations is associated with current BMI, BMI at age 18-21 years and BMI change. Our study suggests that BMI has a causal effect on peripheral blood DNA methylation.
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