Obesity Discussion Forums

[rachael1234]

Was reading about the 'fat gene' they have found and thought it was interesting! Any views??! (Look online for newspaper articles about the FTO gene-this web site won't let me post links!)

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by rachael1234

Was reading about the 'fat gene' they have found and thought it was interesting! Any views??! (Look online for newspaper articles about the FTO gene-this web site won't let me post links!)

First off welcome to the site! Sorry about posting links, we require all members to have 10 posts before posting links. This prevents a lot of spammers from registering just to market random products on this site.

Regarding the FTO gene, we do have a study posted on Obesity Discussion about the FTO gene here: FTO Obesity Gene

Now the study is 3 months old, and as of 3 months ago no one knows what this gene is supposed to do, just that those who carry either one or two copies of it are more likely to weigh a few extra pounds. Regardless, the FTO gene cannot be solely blamed for individuals' obesity issues; even in the worst case scenario, those that have 2 copies of the FTO gene in their DNA only weigh an extra 7lbs on average. An extra 7lbs maybe be enough to push someone into a slightly overweight status, but certainly not an obese state.

[sass63]

Originally Posted by Obesity Discussion

First off welcome to the site! Sorry about posting links, we require all members to have 10 posts before posting links. This prevents a lot of spammers from registering just to market random products on this site.

Regarding the FTO gene, we do have a study posted on Obesity Discussion about the FTO gene here: FTO Obesity Gene

Now the study is 3 months old, and as of 3 months ago no one knows what this gene is supposed to do, just that those who carry either one or two copies of it are more likely to weigh a few extra pounds. Regardless, the FTO gene cannot be solely blamed for individuals' obesity issues; even in the worst case scenario, those that have 2 copies of the FTO gene in their DNA only weigh an extra 7lbs on average. An extra 7lbs maybe be enough to push someone into a slightly overweight status, but certainly not an obese state.

I havent read much about this but I heard about it a few years ago, I do think there may be something to it. But here is why.
My husband was married before and they had 4 kids neither of the parents are over weight and none of the children from that marriage are over weight going on down to the grandkids
Now We had 4 kids and my side of the family have all kids of over weight people from 50lbs and over. Now I was very careful while my kids where growing up about how they ate and they were fine until they hit those horrid teen yrs. Now that they are all grown I have 2 kids that weigh over 300lbs and theother 2 are just slightly over weight. I do know that the 2 that are just slightly over weight have to work to keep the their weight down.
And this is why I think there just may be something to this fat gene, but I also agree that the gene cant be blamed for all the obesity. Choices in how and what we put in our mouth have more to do with it then anything else.

[jacqueline]

Originally Posted by sass63

I havent read much about this but I heard about it a few years ago, I do think there may be something to it. But here is why.
My husband was married before and they had 4 kids neither of the parents are over weight and none of the children from that marriage are over weight going on down to the grandkids
Now We had 4 kids and my side of the family have all kids of over weight people from 50lbs and over. Now I was very careful while my kids where growing up about how they ate and they were fine until they hit those horrid teen yrs. Now that they are all grown I have 2 kids that weigh over 300lbs and theother 2 are just slightly over weight. I do know that the 2 that are just slightly over weight have to work to keep the their weight down.
And this is why I think there just may be something to this fat gene, but I also agree that the gene cant be blamed for all the obesity. Choices in how and what we put in our mouth have more to do with it then anything else.

I also have a family where the obesity genetics are apparent. My father is slim, and my mom was always overweight. My sister resembles and takes after my father and his family who are all slim. I resemble my mother and her family who are all overweight. Nobody can tell me that genetic doesn't play a role in obesity. I would bet that I have the double gene variant, and my sister doesn't!!! I am sure that none of the overweight people in my family (including me) choose to be that way. Yes, we can all choose to work on our weight problems, but losing weight is tough at best, and when our body genetics add to that difficulty it feels like dragging a lead weight behind us while we are trying.