Thursday, April 18, 2019

Genetics of Obesity in Humans


According to the EndocrineReviews Journal, genetics plays a large role of obesity in humans. Although not maintaining a healthy diet and not preforming enough physical activity triggers and leads to obesity, it is important to take in consideration the hereditary factor that influences weight gaining. A study was done on parents and their offspring, as well as, twins and adopted children. The study was done in order to investigate the genetic contribution of the body weight throughout the family. As a result, the studies reported around 40%-70% for heritable traits for the most part. Form this, it was able to know that indeed, weight can be considered a heritable trait, that is only slightly less than the trait of height in humans. So far, evidence demonstrates that obesity is the result of a mixture of both environmental and genetic factors. I found this article to be very interesting because I always had in mind that humans gain weight and lead to obesity because of the type of diet that they follow.

2 comments:

  1. I recently posted a blog related to obesity and genetic mutation. In my personal opinion, I do not disregard the possibility of obesity being caused by genetic factors but once i see my surroundings i can see that there are other reasons why USA for example has a high rate of obesity. Fast foods are way cheaper than healthy food. Technology is taking over people, kids will rather stay inside the house playing video games instead of playing outside.

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  2. The prevalence of obesity was 39.8% and affected about 93.3 million of US adults in 2015-2016 as per CDC. Most of which I believe has to do with the food choices that are made but also could be from genetic factors. I read where the even a C-section can promote obesity in children so genetics could also play a big role in obesity.

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