What Causes Obesity – Genes or Lifestyle?

As the Americans pile their tables with more calorie-loaded meals offered by fast-food restaurants and supermarkets, scientists continue looking for genes that can hold key to wrong food choices, weight gain, and obesity-related diseases.

A 2007 study by the Center for Disease Control has revealed that roughly one-fourth of all US adults are grossly overweight.

While most researchers link this high incidence of obesity to both environmental and genetic factors, the debate on which are more prevailing in influencing weight gain is still not settled. Some scientists insist that a key cause of obesity is not biological but social, and linked to an unhealthy lifestyle. However, recent studies show that specific genes can play a bigger role in affecting body weight than was previously suspected.

A hereditary predisposition to weight gain is complex and can be guided by a number of genes, many of which are yet to be identified, says C. Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Certain genetic deficiencies, such as the lack of leptin, can be responsible for about six percent of all obesity cases in the US. Other cases of severe overweight can be linked to various genetic defects, such as those of FTO, and their interactions with the environmental and lifestyle factors.

So far, scientists have identified 20 different genes that can be involved in the development of obesity, but this number will most probably grow in the near future.

In addition to genetics, a strong predictor of pathological weight gain is family history. Those who have overweight parents are more likely to put on excess pounds, in comparison with people lacking family history of overweight. Other contributing factors are wrong dietary choices, sedentary lifestyles, and hormonal imbalances.

If you are predisposed to weight gain, due to your family history, genetic layout, hormonal changes, or other factors, it is never late to prevent or reverse the condition, scientists point out. The key is to incorporate healthy nutritional choices and exercise into your everyday life.

In order to hamper the rates of obesity, people often need to just reduce their calorie intake. Despite your DNA, simply eating fewer calories can be a powerful tool to stop gaining weight, says Bouchard.

Kim Suffolk

Canadian Online Pharmacy