Can genes play a more important role than diet in achieving a slim figure?
| Jan 28, 2019, 11:07 IST
We're often told that people who are thin happen to be that way because they exercise and change their diets and lifestyle and actually make an effort to be slim. But what if we told you that there's one more factor that helps some people stay slim while others rapidly gain weight? This factor is genes or genetics. It was found in a recent study that some people have certain genes that can help them stay slim. This also means that these people have a genetic advantage when it comes to maintaining their weight.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge led the research wherein they found that these slim people had not only a lower genetic risk score but they also had fewer genetic variants that play a role in increasing the weight of a person. “This research shows for the first time that healthy thin people are generally thin because they have a lower burden of genes that increase a person’s chances of being overweight and not because they are morally superior, as some people like to suggest,” said Professor Sadaf Farooqi from the varsity.
“It’s easy to rush to judgement and criticise people for their weight, but the science shows that things are far more complex. We have far less control over our weight than we might wish to think,” he added. The researchers compared the DNA of individuals that were separated into three groups - one group consisted of thin people, the other consisted of people with normal weight and the third consisted of morbidly obese people. They found that three out of four people who were thin and healthy had a family history of being thin.
“As anticipated, we found that obese people had a higher genetic risk score than normal weight people, which contributes to their risk of being overweight. The genetic dice are loaded against them,” explained one researcher. They also added that if they would be able to pinpoint the genes that make these people fat, then they could come up with newer and better weight loss techniques for these people. Stay tuned for more updates.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge led the research wherein they found that these slim people had not only a lower genetic risk score but they also had fewer genetic variants that play a role in increasing the weight of a person. “This research shows for the first time that healthy thin people are generally thin because they have a lower burden of genes that increase a person’s chances of being overweight and not because they are morally superior, as some people like to suggest,” said Professor Sadaf Farooqi from the varsity.
“It’s easy to rush to judgement and criticise people for their weight, but the science shows that things are far more complex. We have far less control over our weight than we might wish to think,” he added. The researchers compared the DNA of individuals that were separated into three groups - one group consisted of thin people, the other consisted of people with normal weight and the third consisted of morbidly obese people. They found that three out of four people who were thin and healthy had a family history of being thin.
“As anticipated, we found that obese people had a higher genetic risk score than normal weight people, which contributes to their risk of being overweight. The genetic dice are loaded against them,” explained one researcher. They also added that if they would be able to pinpoint the genes that make these people fat, then they could come up with newer and better weight loss techniques for these people. Stay tuned for more updates.