You can't blame your obesity on your genes anymore. Researchers from America studied to determine the association of common FTO (fat mass and obesity associated) genes with the body mass index (BMI) and further to investigate the role of physical activity in the link between FTO gene variants and high BMI. The study involved 704 healthy men and women who were divided into two groups based on their level of activity over the course of a week. Women in the lower activity group expended 2,610 calories a day, while those in the high activity group burned 3,590 calories a day. For men, calorie expenditures were 3,130 and 3,990, respectively. So getting 860 more calories a day of exercise for women, and 980 more calories for men, was enough to negate the effects of the obesity gene. It was found that 30 percent of people had variations of FTO, linked to high BMI, high body fat percentage and obesity. As with genes linked to other complex disorders, such as type II diabetes, having a gene variant does not mean that you will or will not develop that condition. Researchers added that such variants were considered to be susceptibility genes and a person's behaviour and environment were also important in determining his or her risk for obesity. Obesity-associated gene variants were tied to higher BMI in the least active people, but there was no relationship between the variants and BMI in the high-activity group. Researchers concluded that individuals who carried a known obesity gene, which makes people more susceptible to gaining weight, were no fatter than their peers without the gene, as long as they logged at least 3 hours of physical activity a day. Carrying any gene associated with obesity doesn't mean being fat is a person's fate.
Archives of Internal Medicine
September 2008