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. 2011 Jan;44(1):44-9.
doi: 10.1002/eat.20780.

An investigation of weight suppression in a population-based sample of female twins

Karen S Mitchell  1 , Michael C Neale, Cynthia M Bulik, Michael Lowe, Hermine H Maes, Kenneth S Kendler, Suzanne E Mazzeo
Affiliations

An investigation of weight suppression in a population-based sample of female twins

Karen S Mitchell et al. Int J Eat Disord. 2011 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: Weight suppression (WS), maintaining a body weight below one's maximum adult weight, is associated with bingeing, purging, and weight gain in clinical samples.

Method: We investigated associations between eating disorder-related variables and WS and additive genetic (A), common (C), and unique (E) environmental contributions to WS in a population-based sample of 1,503 female adult twins.

Results: Modeling results were similar for participants reporting no binge eating (NBE) and those reporting binge eating plus loss of control (BE + LOC): 20-25% of the variance in WS was due to A and 70-75% due to E. Among NBE participants, restraint, drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and dieting during child/adulthood were related to WS. Restraint, disinhibition, and dieting during childhood were significantly associated with WS in the BE + LOC subsample.

Discussion: Although maintaining lower body weight could be advantageous, interventionists should take care when addressing weight suppression in individuals vulnerable to eating disorder symptomatology.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A Biometric Model of Weight Suppression. Note: A=variance due to additive genetic influences, C=variance due to common environment, E= variance due to unique environment. AH, CH, EH = variance components for highest weight; AC, CC, EC = variance components for current weight. ah, ch, eh = parameters for highest weight; ac, cc, ec = parameters for current weight. ra, rc, re=genetic, common environmental, and unique environmental correlations between highest and current weight.
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