Fat Gene Can Be Trumped By Exercise

Have you ever heard someone who was overweight use the excuse, “it's in my genes”? Well this may not just be an excuse, but rather a fact. However, those with the gene variant that can lead to obesity need to focus on exercise and they can overcome the gene.

A recent study involving an Amish community showed as long as those with the gene variant that can lead to weight gain exercised moderately for 3-4 hours they could overcome the weight gain culprit. Does 3-4 hours of exercise sound daunting? It probably does for anyone who works or has a family. However, it didn’t seem very daunting for those of the Amish community since lots of their days are spent either tending to several children, working in the fields farming or performing manual labor. The lack of cars, also probably helps them to get their exercise. 

The Amish community study involved 704 healthy men and women averaging 43 years old, who all wore accelerometers to measure their movements over a seven day span. Researchers also evaluated DNA samples and physiological tests. A little over half of the men and 63.7 percent of the women were overweight. Almost one third of the women and 10 percent of the men were obese. Dr. Rampersaud, M.S.P.H, Ph.D., and his associates studied 92 SNP’s, single nucleotide polymorphisms, in the FTO gene. They evaluated the associations between the BMI, body mass index, obesity and physical activity measured through the accelerometers.

The 704 men and women were divided into two groups based on their physical activity and the researchers evaluated the relationship between their BMI and the two key SNPs. They found only in those with low activity scores, based on their age and weight, were both SNPs associated with BMI, and they had no effects on those with higher than average physical activity scores.

The authors of the study, released in the Sept 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, replicated the association between common SNPs in the FTO gene with increased BMI and risk for obesity, in the Amish community. The FTO gene associated with weight gain and obesity is found in 30 percent of the European population and accounts for 3.9 pounds higher body mass. The study authors concluded, “Furthermore, we provide quantitative data to show that the weight increase resulting from the presence of these SNPs is much smaller and not statistically significant in subjects who are very physically active. This finding offers some clues to the mechanism by which FTO influences changes in BMI and may have important implications in targeting personalized lifestyle recommendations to prevent obesity in genetically susceptible individuals.”

Researchers found after evaluating the Amish community that even though the fat genes or SNPs exist they can be trumped by 3-4 hours of moderate activity daily, such as a brisk walk. You may think this is impossible for those living outside of an Amish community, but there are ways that you can get exercise during your normal day without taking time to “exercise”. Take the stairs rather than the elevator, walk to lunch, walk to talk to your boss rather than send an email, walk to the mail box rather than driving by it on your way in the house, walk the dog down the street rather than letting him run in the back yard, don’t park at the closest spot to the store and play with your children. While adding a good daily exercise routine is always a great idea, many are to busy for a structured routine. Think outside of the box and walk when you can.