Environmental effects on cardiovascular risk factors in Chinese adolescent monozygotic twins

The monozygotic (MZ) cotwin control method was employed to elucidate possible environmental determinants of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. A population-based twin sample of 73 male and 77 females MZ twin pairs was recruited from 12 junior high schools in Taipei city. Intrapair differences in blood pressure were negatively associated with intrapair difference in vegetable preference, attaining significance for DBP in males and SBP in females. Cholesterol was positively associated with milk consumption and preference for sweets, fried foods, meat and fish. A negative association was also observed between cholesterol and vegetable preference. These associations for cholesterol were significant in males only. Triglyceride level negatively associated with preferences for sweets and vegetable, attaining significance for vegetables in both males and females and for sweets in males only.