Do Your Genes Make You Fat?

Heredity has always been suspected of playing a role in weight gain. When weight studies were performed among families, they showed a suspicious trend of obesity, especially during middle age. About a decade ago, a gene was discovered that plays an important part in regulating weight.

The good news is that even though a gene may be responsible for excess weight gain, it can be controlled and even overridden by proper nutrition.

Extensive studies have all but proven that obesity is a biological trait passed on among family members. Many of the research involved families, twins, and siblings adopted or placed into different households. This created a wide diversity of subjects in order to discount the possibility of environmental factors playing a role in weight gain. Each set of results pointed directly to a probable genetic link.

While working in Dr. Besharse's laboratory over ten years, Dr. Green discovered a gene named Nocturnin. It was linked to the sleep cycle and metabolism. Work was then began in order to isolate and study the effects of this gene when altered in mice. Interestingly enough, in a study performed by Dr. Besharse, it was found that when the gene was removed from otherwise healthy mice, they failed to gain weight, even when fed double the calories of the control group.

These revolutionary studies show a strong link between genetics and weight. The amazing gene/weight finding will lead to studies of even more importance such as development of metabolic disease treatments. Until this happens, we need to continue to eat in a way to keep the gene in check, thus leading to losing excess weight - or better yet, avoiding weight gain to begin with.

Ironically, two hormones are also linked to obesity and sleep. When sleep is deprived, the hormones Grehlin and Leptin are adversely affected. Grehlin triggers the body to eat and Leptin tells the body it is full. When someone doesn't get enough sleep, these hormones become out of whack and affects the body's metabolism. Right now it is also being studied to see if there is a heredity link to these off balance hormones, but there are no results as of yet.

Certain ways we eat affect how our genes react to catalysts such as food and stress. If we reverse our learned way of eating, we can assist our genes and hormones in fighting the gaining of excess pounds and retrain our bodies how to process foods. When we eat correctly, we also get better sleep. Proper nutrition can help lose the pounds put on by all of these biological factors, and improve your overall health.