A result of a couple studies investigated that weight
control is related to genetics and not will power as must of us believe. The study
was realized on people that have been thin their entire life. Their opinion on
the subject was that they “did not care much about food”. These individuals
only ate small amounts of food. The gene MC4R was used by Dr. Sadaf Farooqi, professor
of metabolism and medicine at the University of Cambridge and Nick Wareham, and
epidemiologist at the same university. Researchers from Britain found that some
people carry a “genetic alteration” that mutes appetite. This includes a low
chance of getting heart disease or diabetes. The study used data from the U.K
biobank. These included half million people aged 40-69; their DNA samples and
medical records was helpful information that enable researchers to track their
health. The same data was used for a second study, which was used to make
predictions as early as childhood. According to the researchers, there are
biological reasons why some people struggle with overweight and others do not. This
is related more towards appetite and not metabolism.
Obesity can be a cause of a genetic mutation, but personally I think many of the individuals who suffer from obesity is because they were introduced to junk food in their early childhood usually from parents. Lack of physical activity plays an important role as well, technology keeps the kids and adults entertained. Another cause could be stress in adults due to family issues or work.
Wow this is super interesting. I have always fallen into the boat of not caring that much about food, and it's interesting to see what gene it's actually linked too!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting study because I have always believed that weight gain was because of environmental factors. Does metabolism not cause any fluctuation on weight at all? From my personal research throughout the years, I found that gaining weight was from because of someone having slow metabolism.
ReplyDeleteAlthough obesity can cause individuals at any age to gain weight, I also think that kids who don't practice a healthy diet at an early age have a higher possibility to be obese. Its interesting to know that not only having an unhealthy life style causes this condition, but also a genetic background does too.
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