| Understanding Genetics and Obesity
While most people believe that excess calories are the culprit behind growing numbers of obesity cases in the United States and other parts of the world, lifestyle and diet are not the only ones to be blamed. Researches have shown that genetics also play a major role in the occurrence of obesity. In fact, in conditions such as Prader-Willi syndrome and Bardet-Biedl syndrome, obesity can be directly caused by genes.
Obesity seems to run in families, as studies have found. There is growing number of evidence suggesting that heredity is a great determining favor of obesity. For instance, a study showed that adults who were adopted as children had weight patterns which resembled that of their biological parents rather than the people who adopted them. Albeit less, the environment and lifestyle of the adoptive family also had some influences on the development of obesity in the individuals who were adopted.
Studies have discovered that people have weight-regulating genes. These genes determine how much an individual will weigh at a certain age. It’s a more known fact that height is hereditary. Studies are saying now, that the heritability of weight and obesity is much like how someone inherits their parents’ height. Food sources and nutrition may have improved drastically over the last decades, contributing greatly to why people have gotten taller, but height still seems to be predominantly genetic, just as weight is.
However, just because genes dictate it does not mean that one would have to suffer the wrath of obesity. The genes may exist, but obesity-encouraging behaviors must be present for an individual to actually become obese. Excessive calorie consumption and a sedentary lifestyle are two behaviors that aggravate the likelihood of genetic obesity developing.
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