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Fat Gene Triggers Unhealthy Eating
- By Kirsten Whittaker
- Published 09/5/2009
- Wellness, Fitness and Diet
- Unrated
Kirsten Whittaker
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They taste delicious, sinfully good but once they’re past our taste buds, the fatty, sugary foods so many of us love do nothing for the rest of our body. Yet still they are (for many of us) virtually impossible to resist. Could our unhealthy eating patterns be linked to a fat gene?
New research out of Scotland seems to support this theory - finding a gene variant already linked to obesity might also cause us to be drawn to fatty, sugary foods so that we eat about 100 extra calories per meal.
The gene, a variant of the FTO gene, is believed to be part of the makeup of 63% of the population. And while having this gene doesn’t mean you’re destined for obesity, or not having it mean you’re in the clear - current thinking does tie the two together.
The new study worked to confirm this connection, and then took things one step further to see how the FTO gene variant might influence obesity.
The research used a large group of 2,700 Scottish schoolchildren as subjects, measuring their weight, waist and hip circumferences, as well as taking saliva samples to find the children with the FTO gene variant. As expected, the heavier kids were more likely to have the gene variation.
What really has experts taking notice is the next stage of the study.
Here, the team monitored the metabolism of a small but significant number of the school children for 10 days.
These subjects also ate special test meals at school. These meals were carefully weighed before and after the kids ate so the amount eaten could be accurately measured.
Surprisingly the FTO variant didn’t make for a slower metabolism, but rather was linked to eating
more calories during the meal itself.
The researchers found that those with the variant chose foods with more fats and sugars… suggesting an instinctive draw to these choices as opposed to healthier options.
The study found the variant had no impact on how quickly the body broke down food or how active a person might be. There was also no evidence that those with the gene had trouble registering when they were full or stopping eating at this point.
The subjects with the FTO variant were simply attracted to more calorie rich foods.
Lead researcher Professor Colin Palmer said: “This work demonstrates that this gene does not lead to obesity without overeating and suggests that obesity linked to this gene could be modulated by careful dietary control.”
Earlier work in this area has shown that those with one copy of the key FTO variant (about 50% of the population) have a 30% obesity risk.
If you have two copies of the gene, your risk soars to almost 70%.
Couple a possible genetic urge for more fatty, sugary foods, and the ready availability of these types of foods and you can see why obesity rates are climbing so steadily.
The work appears in the December 11, 2008 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. An editorial by Rudolph Leibel, MD of Columbia University, published along with the study cites the importance of lifestyle factors in either enabling or restricting the susceptibility to overeating and becoming overweight or obese.
But the thinking that all you need to do is make better food and other lifestyle choices ignores the idea that we’re all not equal in terms of how we see fat and sugar laden foods. It might just be harder for some people with the fat gene to resist the temptation of unhealthy food choices than others.
New research out of Scotland seems to support this theory - finding a gene variant already linked to obesity might also cause us to be drawn to fatty, sugary foods so that we eat about 100 extra calories per meal.
The gene, a variant of the FTO gene, is believed to be part of the makeup of 63% of the population. And while having this gene doesn’t mean you’re destined for obesity, or not having it mean you’re in the clear - current thinking does tie the two together.
The new study worked to confirm this connection, and then took things one step further to see how the FTO gene variant might influence obesity.
The research used a large group of 2,700 Scottish schoolchildren as subjects, measuring their weight, waist and hip circumferences, as well as taking saliva samples to find the children with the FTO gene variant. As expected, the heavier kids were more likely to have the gene variation.
What really has experts taking notice is the next stage of the study.
Here, the team monitored the metabolism of a small but significant number of the school children for 10 days.
These subjects also ate special test meals at school. These meals were carefully weighed before and after the kids ate so the amount eaten could be accurately measured.
Surprisingly the FTO variant didn’t make for a slower metabolism, but rather was linked to eating
The researchers found that those with the variant chose foods with more fats and sugars… suggesting an instinctive draw to these choices as opposed to healthier options.
The study found the variant had no impact on how quickly the body broke down food or how active a person might be. There was also no evidence that those with the gene had trouble registering when they were full or stopping eating at this point.
The subjects with the FTO variant were simply attracted to more calorie rich foods.
Lead researcher Professor Colin Palmer said: “This work demonstrates that this gene does not lead to obesity without overeating and suggests that obesity linked to this gene could be modulated by careful dietary control.”
Earlier work in this area has shown that those with one copy of the key FTO variant (about 50% of the population) have a 30% obesity risk.
If you have two copies of the gene, your risk soars to almost 70%.
Couple a possible genetic urge for more fatty, sugary foods, and the ready availability of these types of foods and you can see why obesity rates are climbing so steadily.
The work appears in the December 11, 2008 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. An editorial by Rudolph Leibel, MD of Columbia University, published along with the study cites the importance of lifestyle factors in either enabling or restricting the susceptibility to overeating and becoming overweight or obese.
But the thinking that all you need to do is make better food and other lifestyle choices ignores the idea that we’re all not equal in terms of how we see fat and sugar laden foods. It might just be harder for some people with the fat gene to resist the temptation of unhealthy food choices than others.