Can Your Genes Do This?

Researchers at the University of Miami are studying how and which genes affect a person’s diet and exercise. It is no secret that exercise and diet harken back to genetic imperatives in the individual. Two people can eat the same exact thing and it will affect them in different ways; one person might gain weight from it and the other not. The same goes for exercise. Now, research is being conducted into exactly which genes affect this and how they do so. In these studies, geneticists hope to isolate and identify such genes and be able to determine how certain foods and exercises will affect a certain person before they partake in them, as a new form of genetic counseling. In some people fat might be processed and stored as form of energy. However, in other individuals fat is attacked by the immune system and expelled from the body. Certain foods or exercises may trigger specific genes to release serotonin while others may release cortisol. While we all have the same genes, whether or not some genes are turned on by certain stimuli determines how we react to that stimuli. In knowing this information people will be able to effectively lose weight and become more fit, without having to waste time on exercise of dietary regiments that may not work for them.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/24/v-fullstory/2517520/can-your-genes-help-create-designer.html (Article Link)