Center for Weight and Health, U.C. Berkeley

A Selection of Published Literature

Environmental Factors | Ethnicity & Immigration Status

Family & Home Environment | Genetic Factors

Environmental Factors

French SA, Story M, Hannan P, Breitlow KK, Jeffrey RW, Baxter JS, Snyder PM. Cognitive and demographic correlates of low-fat vending snack choices among adolescents and adults. J Am Diet Assoc 1999;99:471-75.

Guillaume M, Bjorntorp P. Obesity in children: Environmental and genetic aspects. Horm Metab Res 1996;28:573-81.

Hill JO, Peters JC. Environmental contributions to the obesity epidemic. Science 1998;280:1371-4.

Huenemann RL. Environmental factors associated with preschool obesity: I. Obesity in six-month old children. J Am Diet Assoc 1974;64:480-7.

Maffeis C. Child Obesity: The genetic-environmental interface. Bulliere’s Clin Endocrin Metab 1999;13:31-46.

Moll PP, Burns TL, Lauer RM. The genetic environmental sources of body mass index variability: The Muscatine Ponderosity Family Study. Am J Human Genet 1991;49:1243-55.

Philipson TJ and Posner, RA. The long-run growth in obesity as a function of technological change. NBER Working Paper No. W7423, November 1999; http://papers.nber.org/papers/w7423

Popkin B, Udry J. Adolescent Obesity Increases Significantly in Second and Third Generation US Immigrants: the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. J Nutr 1998;128:701-6.

Sallis JF, Broyles SL, Frank-Spohrer G, Berry CC, Davis TB, Nader PR. Child’s home environment in relation to the mother’s adiposity. Int J Obes 1995;19:190-7.

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Ethnicity & Immigration Status

Banerji M, Faridi N, Atluri R, Chaiken R, Lebovitz H. Body composition, visceral fat, leptin and insulin resistance in Asian Indian men. Journal of Clinical Endo and Met 1999; 84: 137-144.

Hyslop AE, Deinard AS, Dahlberg-Luby E, Himes JH. Growth patterns of first-generation Southeast Asian Americans from birth to 5 years of age. J Am Board Fam Pract 1996;9:328-35.

Kaplowitz H, Martorell R, Mendoza RS. Fatness and fat distribution in Mexican-American children and youths from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Am J Hum Biol 1989;1:631-48.

Lauderdale DS, Rathouz PJ. Body mass index in a U.S national sample of Asian Americans: effects of nativity, years since immigration and socioeconomic status. Int J Obes 2000;24:1188-94.

Pan Y, Dixon Z, Himburg S, Huffman F. Asian students change their eating patterns after living in the United States. Jour American Dietetic Assn 1999; 99: 54-57.

Popkin BM, Udry JR. Adolescent obesity increases significantly in second and third generation U.S. immigrants: the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. J Nutr 1998;128:701-6.

Tanasescu M, Ferris AM, Himmelgreen DA, Rodriguez N, Pérez-Escamilla R. Biobehavioral factors associated with obesity in Puerto Rican children. J Nutr 2000;130:1734-42.

Treuth MS, Butte NF, Wong WW. Effects of familial predisposition to obesity on energy expenditure in multiethnic prepubertal girls. Am J Clin Nutr 2000b;71:893-900.

Sherman JB, Liao Y, Alexander M, Kim M, Kim BD. Family factors related to obesity in Mexican-American and Anglo preschool children. Family Comm Health 1995;18:28-36.

Stettler N, Tershakovec AM, Zemel BS, Leonard MB, Boston RC, Katz SH, Stallings VA. Early risk factors for increased adiposity: a cohort study of African American subjects followed from birth to young adulthood. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;72:378-83.

Suminski RR, Poston WS, Jackson AS, Foreyt JP. Early identification of Mexican American children who are at risk for becoming obese. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999;23:823-9.

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Family and the Home Environment

Eck LH, Klesges RC, Hanson CL, Slawson D. Children at familial risk for obesity: an examination of dietary intake, physical activity and weight status. Int J Obes 1992;16:71-8.

Johnson SL, Birch LL. Parents’ and children’s adiposity and eating style. Pediatrics 1994;94:653-61.

Morrison JA, Payne G, Barton BA, Khoury PR, Crawford P. Mother-daughter correlations of obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors in Black and White households: The NHLBI Growth and Health Study. Am J Public Health 1994;84:1761-7.

Sherman JB, Liao Y, Alexander M, Kim M, Kim BD. Family factors related to obesity in Mexican-American and Anglo preschool children. Family Comm Health 1995;18:28-36.

Stauss RS, MD, Knight, J. Influence of the home environment on the development of obesity in children. Pediatrics, 1999;103-111.

Treuth MS, Butte NF, Wong WW. Effects of familial predisposition to obesity on energy expenditure in multiethnic prepubertal girls. Am J Clin Nutr 2000b;71:893-900.

Whitaker RC, Wright JA, Pepe MS, Seidel KD, Dietz WH. Predicting obesity in young adulthood from childhood and parental obesity. N Engl J Med 1997;337:869-73.

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Genetic Factors

Allison DB, Kaprio J, Korkeila M, Koskenvuo M, Neale MC, Hayakawa K. The Heritability of Body Mass Index among an international sample of monozygotic twins reared apart. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Diseases 1996;20:501-6.

Chagnon YC, Perusse L, Weisnagel SJ, Rankinen T, Bouchard C. The human obesity gene map: the 1999 update. Obes Res 2000;8:89-117.

Comuzzie AG, Allison DB. The search for human obesity genes. Science 1998;280:1374-7.

Figueroa-Colon R, Arani RB, Goran MI, Weinsier RL. Paternal body fat is a longitudinal predictor of changes in body fat in premenarcheal girls. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;71:829-34.

Fisher JO, Birch LL. Fat preferences and fat consumption of 3-to-5 year-old children are related to parental adiposity. J Am Diet Assoc 1995;95:759-64.

Frisancho AR. Prenatal compared with parental origins of adolescent fatness. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;72:1186-90.

Guillaume M, Bjorntorp P. Obesity in children: environmental and genetic aspects. Horm Metab Res 1996;28:573-81.

Hebebrand J, Wulftange H, Goerg T, Ziegler A, Hinney A, Barth N, Mayer H, Remschmidt H. Epidemic obesity: are genetic factors involved via increased rates of assortative mating? Int J Obes 2000; 24: 345 – 353.

Lake JK, Power C, Cole TJ. Child to adult body mass index in the 1958 British birth cohort: associations with parental obesity. Arch Dis Child 1997;77:376-81.

Maffeis C. Child obesity: The genetic-environmental interface. Bulliere’s Clin Endocrin Metab 1999;13:31-46.

Moll PP, Burns TL, Lauer RM. The genetic environmental sources of body mass index variability: The Muscatine Ponderosity Family Study. Am J Human Genet 1991;49:1243-55.

Treuth MS, Butte NF, Puyau M, Adolph A. Relations of parental obesity status to physical activity and fitness of perpubertal girls. Pediatrics 2000;106:E49.

Stunkard AJ, Foch TT, Hrubec Z. A twin study of human obesity. JAMA 1986a;256:51-4.

Stunkard AJ, Sorenson TI, Hanis C, Teasdale TW, Chakraborty R, Schull WJ, Schulsinger F. An adoption study of human obesity. New Eng J Med 1986b;314:193-8.