How Genes Are Making You Overweight
Without question genes play a role in obesity, but the vast majority of cases can’t be blamed on genetic factors. The latest news on this subject comes from research done by specialists where they identified seven new regions known as loci of the human genome linked to overweight. They also found that the genetics underlying extreme overweight are similar to those that also cause milder forms of overweight.
It is clarified that the extremely overweight have a greater number of gene variants that may increase the risk of overweight, the investigators were able to identify the loci linked to overweight by examining the relationship between the different body measurements and 2.8 million gene variants in 168,267 study participants. Then they focused on the 273 gene differents with the strongest links to various body measurements in another 109,703 people. In this way, they were able to confirm that gene loci already known to be linked with various body measurements and to identify four initial unknown gene loci linked to height as well as the seven newly linked to overweight.
In other research, there was a study in mice at Boston Children’s Hospital which found that a rare genetic mutation kept the animals from burning off calories; the researchers also found a human correlate of this mutation in a group of overweight people. Another study in London found that the FTO, a specific form of a gene that had initially been linked to overweight, can increase human cravings for high fat foods.
The more we learn about the genes associated with overweight, the more we will be able to find ways to prevent and treat it. However, experts in this field say that genetic factors are to blame only for about five percent of all the cases. most scientists maintain that even changes in eating and exercise patterns over two decades cannot account for the cause of overweight and have suggested that chemicals in our environment may take the blame by changing the ways we and laboratory animals respond to diet and exercise.
My view on tis is that individuals with a certain genetic constituents can develop insulin resistance if their diets include consumption of a lot of carbohydrate foods that has a high glycemic load. Insulin, the hormone that helps in the transport of blood sugar from the bloodstream into cells throughout the body system for use as fuel, is secreted by the pancreas in response to the normal increase in blood sugar that takes place after a meal. With insulin resistance, the normal amount of insulin secreted is not enough to move glucose into the cells therefore the cells are often said to be resistant to its action. To compensate, the pancreas secretes insulin in excess. This excess insulin makes the body to store fat and affect many other physiologic processes for the worse.
Bottom line is almost all overweight people can lose weight by making healthy changes to their diets and having regular exercise.