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According to scientists, eating too much and being lazy are the biggest drivers of obesity. Obesity rates have soared in people with and without the ‘fat gene’, lifestyle factors play the largest role Experts said genetic makeup has a minor influence on our weight outcomesYou can’t blame being obese solely on your genetics because poor lifestyle choices are the main driver of weight gain, scientists say.
Obesity rates have soared by three-fold since 1975, with almost one in three British adults tipping the scales. But the trends are the same in people both with and without what are known as ‘fat genes’, according to a study. This suggests poor diet and lack of exercise is mainly to blame, researchers said.
However, they accepted genetics still play a role. Obesity experts agreed with the findings, saying genes play a ‘minor role’ on weight gain – and our genetics have barely changed over time. Weight has soared for people with and without a genetically predisposition since 1975, suggesting a poor diet and lack of exercise is to blameWeight has soared for people with and without a genetically predisposition since 1975, suggesting a poor diet and lack of exercise is to blame.
Scientists based in Norway looked at findings, including BMI measurements, from a previous study of 118,959 adults. The participants had repeated height and weight measurements recorded between 1963 and 2008. Participants were divided into five groups depending on their genetic risk to obesity, a fifth being the most susceptible and a fifth being the least.
Their BMIs were analysed with other obesity influencing factors, including age, sex, smoking habits and environmental factors. BMIs increased dramatically between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, the research published in the British Medical Journal revealed. People in the top ‘genetic-susceptibility’ group were more likely to have a higher BMI than those identified as having a lower risk, it found.
But the findings also showed BMI has increased for both genetically predisposed and non-predisposed people since the 1960s. Lead author Maria Brandkvist, a PhD student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said: ‘This finding provides a novel insight into the role of genetics in the development of obesity.
Genetically predisposed people are at greater risk for higher BMI and that genetic predisposition interacts with the obesogenic environment resulting in higher BMI. ‘An altered dietary pattern is the most plausible environmental factor influencing excess energy balance. ‘However, a more sedentary lifestyle and possibly changes in the biological environment, such as toxins and microbiota, could also contribute.’
The researchers found, for example, that 35-year-old men with the ‘fat gene’ were 8.6lbs (3.9kg) heavier in the mid-1960s than men the same age without the gene. Four decades later, the gap in the two groups of men had nearly doubled, in line with rising obesity rates, with similar trends in women.