ARE YOU BORN TO BE FAT?
Surgeon Dr SHARAD PAUL explains how your genes influence your risk of becoming overweight and, crucially, what you can do about it
WE ARE in the grip of an obesity epidemic. The latest figures show that two-thirds of the UK population is either overweight or obese, making Britain one of the fattest nations in Europe.
The cost of treating obesity is crippling the NHS – it increases the possibility of many cancers, as well as raising the risk of heart attacks, strokes and Type 2 diabetes.
However the reasons behind our collective weight gain are much more complex than just being greedy or lazy.
Everything in life is influenced by a combination of our genes and our environment. Environmental influences, such as pollution, smoking or easy access to unhealthy food, are external.
Or they can be internal, for example gene modifications created by the food we eat.
We now know that what we eat and drink continues to shape our genes and this can make us more likely, or not, to develop certain diseases.
Research has shown that the quantity and quality of the food we eat not only affects our own health but that of future generations too. The Överkalix Cohort Study was conducted among residents of an isolated community in the far north-east of Sweden.
Data was collected from three groups of people born in 1890, 1905 and 1920 who were followed up all the way until their deaths (or until 1995). The results were fascinating.
The study was the first to reveal that our disease risk is influenced by the childhood diet of our grandparents, before the growth spurt that happens in teenage years.
So if your grandfather or grandmother overate and over-indulged in food then your risk of heart disease and diabetes is higher.
Conversely if food was not readily available during your father’s childhood then your risk of dying from a heart attack is lower.
So this is another reason we need to watch our children’s diets, not just for them but for the sake of future generations as well.
And although you may not have heard of it there is actually a fatness gene and one in six of us has it.
Carriers of this FTO gene are known to be on average 6-7lb heavier as they have a higher level of “hunger hormones”, making these people feel hungry again soon after they have finished a meal.
Between 40 and 44 per cent of people carry the FTO risk variant and about 16 per cent have two copies.
Those who carry a high-risk version of this FTO gene are roughly 70 per cent more likely to become obese.
This challenges the notion that people become obese because they eat too much or simply don’t exercise enough. A Danish study of nearly 900 overweight men confirmed the link between this gene and fatness and also showed its association with insulin resistance (higher risk of diabetes) and low levels of good cholesterol (HDL) which puts them at a higher risk of heart disease. The reason for the gene’s evolution is this. Over the past 2.5 million years, as primitive humans began to improve their daily diets and began consuming higherenergy foods, it resulted in a reduction in the size of our stomachs. A key part of this theory is that the energy needed for brain growth in early humans was compensated for by a reduction in gut size. Given we are less active these days, many of us lead sedentary lives, sitting at desks in front of our computers for hours on end, slumped on the sofa watching television and eating highly-processed foods, perhaps we are now heading in the opposite
direction path to a – weaker on an evolutionnary race.
Nowadays it’s relatively to have your DNA tested aeasy unlock and the secrets of your genes. All it takes is a cheek swab which is sent off to a lad and then you just wait a couple of weeks for the results to come back.
But what if you do happen to be one of those people who carry the fatness-associat FTO gene? Does that mea you are doomed to a futur perpetual dieting or ill-hea
FORTUNATELY the is some good news People who have th obesity gene are just as lik to be able to lose weight quickly as those who don’t according to researchers f Newcastle University.
The 2016 study, publishe the British Medical Journ found that the FTO gene made no difference to the effectiveness of a healthy d regular exercise and weigh loss drugs.
The team of researchers had set out to test the relationship between the gene and weightloss
interventions using data from almost 10,000 participants of various studies.
They found no relation between FTO and the ability to lose weight.
However knowing which version of this gene you have could tell you whether you are one of those people for whom a high-protein diet will work (cutting out carbs does not work for everyone).
Those who have a particular variant (AA) of the FTO gene tend to be those who lose weight quickly on a high-protein diet.
For others with different variants of this gene, such specific diets won’t work as well. Increasingly my research is focused on helping people eat for their gene type.
For some people it is best if they avoid starch, for others it is gluten or lactose or even coffee – it all depends on your genetic make-up.
The good thing about genes is that although they are our blueprints, we can continue to modify and make new ones and therein lies hope for all of us.
Dr Sharad Paul is the author of The Genetics Of Health: Understand Your Genes For Better Health, published by Simon & Schuster (£16.99). To order, please call The Express Bookshop on 01872 562310, send a cheque/PO payable to Express Bookshop to Express Bookshop, PO Box 200, Falmouth, TR11 4WJ or order online at expressbookshop. com. UK delivery is free. To find out more about his work, visit drsharad paul.com