If your genes are hindering your New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, take heart. Inherited obesity genes can be at least partially overcome by a physically active lifestyle, according to research published in the journal Scientific Reports. Share on Pinterest Inherited genes that contribute to obesity can be somewhat mitigated by a physically active lifestyle, say researchers. Obesity is a growing health concern globally; adverse health outcomes related to obesity include psychological disturbance, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer and up to 8-13 years shorter life expectancy. Research has shown that obesity is more likely to occur in genetically predisposed individuals. FTO is the human fat mass and obesity-associated gene that is strongly associated with obesity. Increased FTO expression has previously been shown to cause obesity in mice. However, there is a growing consensus that excessive energy intake is a major contributor. As the epidemic coincides with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, environmental factors would appear to play a role.

Could gene-environment interactions offer a way out? Now, evidence is emerging of significant gene-environment interactions (GEI) in children and adult populations of European, East Asian and African ancestry, indicating that heritability estimates for obesity-related traits can be modulated by lifestyle factors such as physical activity. David Meyre and colleagues from McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, in Ontario, Canada, set out to investigate whether a physically active lifestyle could substantially decrease the genetic effect of the major obesity gene FTO on body weight in a multiethnic population. The team looked at data from up to 17,400 people from six ethnic groups. The mean age of participants was 52.7 years, and the distribution of the cohort was 53.9% European, 18.9% Latino, 15.8% South Asian, 7.2% African, 2.9% Native American and 1.3% East Asian. Participants were from 17 countries, and they were followed for over 3 years. The association between physical activity behavior and obesity was assessed by using both basic and precise (metabolic equivalent score) measures of physical activity, and traditional body mass index (BMI) was compared with the more recently developed body adiposity index.