I read an interesting article today that more evidence has been found that obesity is DNA related. There are folks, about 1 in 5, that are missing roughly 30 genes that help to regulate weight. What this report indicated is that these folks can not lose weight even with diet and exercise due to this fact. Work is being done to see if there is a protein or enzyme that can be developed to help put these missing genes back and even things out so these folks can lose the weight.
This was a very interesting article because the debate over whether obesity is related to DNA or that some people are predisposed has been a hotly debated topic. Personally, I fully believe that it is, in some cases, related to genetics rather than lifestyle. I’ll be interested to see what comes of this and how further research develops. 1 in 5 initially doesn’t sound like all that much but in the general scheme of things when so many are overweight or obese, that number is staggering. I’m particularly interested in how weight loss surgery affects this. Does it change things hormonally that benefit patients and help them to lose weight? For example, the duodenal switch, Roux-en-Y, and vertical sleeve change your metabolism because of the portion of the stomach missing as well as other physiological changes. Interesting topic.
I’ll pass along anything further I find on this topic.
Mandy
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