BMI Study

fishshark
fishshark Posts: 1,886 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Came across this article strongly finding that BMI is genetic after doing research on children who are adopted. They tend to have the BMI of their birth parents regardless if their adoptive parents are obese or skinny and vice versa. Was an interesting read.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X1630106X

Replies

  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    There's no reason to say that contributing factors for obesity can't be inherited (coping mechanisms, etc) but weight is completely within the control of the individual.
  • SophieSmall95
    SophieSmall95 Posts: 233 Member
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    There's no reason to say that contributing factors for obesity can't be inherited (coping mechanisms, etc) but weight is completely within the control of the individual.

    Pretty much this.

    The study did not find anything that suggested behaviour and intake of calories vs calories out did not make a difference and that BMI is solely genetic. It simply found a correlation between parental and child BMIs which can be caused by a lot of factors. The problem I have with studies like this being interpreted by the public (often wrongly) is that it can become a crux and an excuse for those who want to lose weight. They may see a study like this, think to themselves "Oh I'm fat because of my genetics" and then give up. When it is in fact a lot more complicated than that in it's cause, and still as the person above said very much in the control of the individual once you take calories in vs out into account.
  • hereforthelolz
    hereforthelolz Posts: 51 Member
    I think it's important for people to have knowledge about what they are up against, and be realistic with their goals. I know I was never meant to be a 20 BMI and the amount of effort it would take to get there and stay there isn't really worth it to me.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    While weight is within the control of the individual, my grandfather, called "Big Daddy", who died in 1939, was a farmer at a time when American farmers were physically active and typically slim. He was obese. I'm inclined to believe that a tendency toward obesity is outside the control of the individual because I myself grew rapidly oversized as a baby, becoming heavier than my brother when I was 2 and he was 4.
  • BiggDaddy58
    BiggDaddy58 Posts: 406 Member
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    There's no reason to say that contributing factors for obesity can't be inherited (coping mechanisms, etc) but weight is completely within the control of the individual.

    I don't buy this 100%.

    http://obesity.ulaval.ca/obesity/generalities/genetic.php

    http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/215S.full

    http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/do-we-inherit-obesity-new-genes-identified-suggest-we-might

    sometimes it is not as easy as "weight is completely within the control of the individual"


  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    There's no reason to say that contributing factors for obesity can't be inherited (coping mechanisms, etc) but weight is completely within the control of the individual.

    That's my reaction too.

    We know a couple of things (at least): there seems to be a correlation between tendency to gain weight and genetics, and the average BMI in many countries has increased dramatically in recent decades.

    The latter says it's not just genetics, and certainly not set in stone -- what didn't change over the past few decades is genetics.

    What did change is environment, and probably there's a genetic component to how much that will affect you. But if you know you are susceptible you can make the changes in your specific environment and habits needed to fight against it. It's not like you are genetically programmed to be overweight or obese.

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