Can’t Fit in Your Jeans? It May Be Your Genes!

While it is well known that changes in our environment, such as easy access to high calorie foods and sedentary lifestyles, have driven the rise in obesity in recent years, there is considerable individual variation in weight within a population that shares the same environment. Some people seem able to eat what they like and remain thin. This has led some people to characterize overweight people as lazy or lacking willpower. With support from Wellcome and the European Research Council, a team led by Professor Sadaf Farooqi at the Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, established the Study Into Lean and Thin Subjects – STILTS – to examine why and how some people find it easier to stay thin than others. Studies of twins have shown that variation in body weight is largely influenced by our genes. We already know that people can be thin for different reasons” says Professor Farooqi. “Some people are just not that interested in food whereas others can eat what they like, but never put on weight. If we can find the genes that prevent them from putting on weight, we may be able to target those genes to find new weight loss strategies and help people who do not have this advantage.” https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/news/cant-fit-in-your-jeans-it-may-be-your-genes-314447?utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TN_Breaking%20Science%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=69301217&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-99TvmPPxkLhdHXONI57nMCZ0Eey9sLJx0EGpR7ULozw2etDItBLP25snWYkIC94VC1rMNecCo1tuerWMYPhGbEyQ3ogw&_hsmi=69301217 My take on why obesity rates are rising faster than gene changes can explain is those folks with the "fat" genes were ok until epigenetic modifications due to poor habits turned them on or modified them to where they gained weight even more. While those with the thin genes get less epigenetic modifications in the face of the same bad habits so are not really getting much fatter today.