A healthy diet is associated with the improvement or maintenance of health parameters, and several indices have been proposed to assess diet quality comprehensively. Twin studies have found that some specific foods, nutrients and food patterns have a heritable component; however, the heritability of overall dietary intake has not yet been estimated. Here, we compute heritability estimates of the nine most common dietary indices utilized in nutritional epidemiology. We analyzed 2590 female twins from TwinsUK (653 monozygotic [MZ] and 642 dizygotic [DZ] pairs) who completed a 131-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Heritability estimates were computed using structural equation models (SEM) adjusting for body mass index (BMI), smoking status, Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), physical activity, menopausal status, energy and alcohol intake. The AE model was the best-fitting model for most of the analyzed dietary scores (seven out of nine), with heritability estimates ranging from 10.1% (95% CI [.02, .18]) for the Dietary Reference Values (DRV) to 42.7% (95% CI [.36, .49]) for the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (A-HEI). The ACE model was the best-fitting model for the Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI) and Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) with heritability estimates of 5.4% (95% CI [−.17, .28]) and 25.4% (95% CI [.05, .46]), respectively. Here, we find that all analyzed dietary indices have a heritable component, suggesting that there is a genetic predisposition regulating what you eat. Future studies should explore genes underlying dietary indices to further understand the genetic disposition toward diet-related health parameters.

中文翻译：

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英国女性双胞胎人群饮食指数的遗传和环境影响

健康饮食与健康参数的改善或维持有关，并且已经提出了几个指标来全面评估饮食质量。双胞胎研究发现，一些特定的食物、营养素和食物模式具有可遗传的成分；然而，尚未估计总膳食摄入量的遗传力。在这里，我们计算了营养流行病学中使用的九个最常见的饮食指数的遗传力估计值。我们分析了来自 TwinsUK 的 2590 名女性双胞胎（653 对同卵双胞胎 [MZ] 和 642 对双卵双胞胎 [DZ]），她们完成了 131 项食物频率问卷 (FFQ)。使用结构方程模型 (SEM) 计算遗传力估计值，调整体重指数 (BMI)、吸烟状况、多重剥夺指数 (IMD)、身体活动、更年期状况、能量和酒精摄入量。AE 模型是大多数分析饮食评分（九分之七）的最佳拟合模型，饮食参考值 (DRV) 的遗传力估计范围为 10.1% (95% CI [.02, .18])替代健康饮食指数 (A-HEI) 为 42.7% (95% CI [.36, .49])。ACE 模型是健康饮食指标 (HDI) 和 2010 年健康饮食指数 (HEI-2010) 的最佳拟合模型，遗传力估计为 5.4% (95% CI [−.17, .28]) 和 25.4% ( 95% CI [.05, .46]）。在这里，我们发现所有分析的饮食指数都有一个可遗传的成分，这表明有一种遗传倾向在调节你吃的东西。未来的研究应该探索饮食指数背后的基因，以进一步了解饮食相关健康参数的遗传倾向。