Society/Culture Can we admit that fatness is mostly inherited?

[WeetBixKid]

What do you think?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?pagewanted=all

I agree with everything this guys says. Here's the gist:

The findings also provided evidence for a phenomenon that scientists like Dr. Hirsch and Dr. Leibel were certain was true — each person has a comfortable weight range to which the body gravitates. The range might span 10 or 20 pounds: someone might be able to weigh 120 to 140 pounds without too much effort. Going much above or much below the natural weight range is difficult, however; the body resists by increasing or decreasing the appetite and changing the metabolism to push the weight back to the range it seeks.

...

“Those who doubt the power of basic drives, however, might note that although one can hold one’s breath, this conscious act is soon overcome by the compulsion to breathe,” Dr. Friedman wrote. “The feeling of hunger is intense and, if not as potent as the drive to breathe, is probably no less powerful than the drive to drink when one is thirsty. This is the feeling the obese must resist after they have lost a significant amount of weight.”

 

[rayven]

So who payed this guy?

Mcdonalds?
KFC?
Who?

Seriously.

 

[Theseventhhamster]

Fat people's pets tend to inherit the fat genes too.

 

[WeetBixKid]

He's not saying it's impossible to get fat, but that for those that aren't predisposed to it, it takes an extreme amount of gluttony. & then once that extreme gluttony is removed, they revert back to their predetermiend weight rage.

Likewise the other way around. Anyone can lose weight, but those predetermined to be larger need to keep either an extreme diet or exercise regimen to remain slim, otherwise their body will revert back to its natural shape.

You can't say you don't know some skinny dude who eats like s**t & stays that way, or a fat person who runs regularly yet maintains that shape. What about professional athletes that remain big. The article backs up what we've all seen anecdotally.

 

[SA1NTER]

They wouldn't be so fat if they were just weetbixkids. Problem solved? Problem solved!

 

[FIGJAM]

It began with an agonizing four weeks of a maintenance diet that assessed the subjects’ metabolism and caloric needs. The only food permitted was a liquid formula providing 600 calories a day, a regimen that guaranteed they would lose weight.

No s**t?!!

What they've figured out in the first instance is basically what all fitness freaks will tell you. Work out your Basal/resting metabolic rate, allow for your activity, then drop below this 'maintenance level' for fat loss for three days at the most, or you will stuff your metabolism up and basically pile it on when you return to your maintenance level of energy intake.

So they observed starvation in starving patients and basically crippled their metabolism. FFS!

The prisoners going back to normal weight once back on prison food and standard exercise / activity is hardly surprising or conclusive of anything IMV. Claiming that their metabolism had gone up due to an increase in their maintenance levels also seems idiotic, as the maintenance level's related to size.

This is not to say that genetics do not play a part, because they obviously do, it's just giving an out to obese people in saying you can't strategically lose weight whilst not completely rooting the metabolism. You're never 'doomed'! You don't 'need' to buy that bucket of KFC and 3 litre Pepsi!!

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

Great, another excuse for the fatty boombas. Eat below maintenance (500 calories below) till desired weight, continue at maintenance to maintain weight. Law of thermodynamics bitches, learn it.

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

Did it mention how much people's range can vary? I seriously doubt that anyone would be naturally 130-150kgs. Did it mention what the upper limits were?

 

[Bender571]

So instead of being psychological failures, fat people are evolutionary failures?

 

[Old Skool]

So instead of being psychological failures, fat people are evolutionary failures?

I figure the ability to store excess nutrients was a positive biological trait.

 

[Bender571]

I figure the ability to store excess nutrients was a positive biological trait.

Only if there are no adverse side effects

 

[Upton Sinclair]

Only if there are no adverse side effects

Most of the adverse side effects really kick in well past the average life span of pre-industrial humans.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Obesity genetic? No sale.

 

[sabre_ac]

No doubt its genetic, a huge part of who we are is genetic. But that doesn't account for the fact that most overweight people I know are constantly snacking unhealthy food, normally skip breakfast and consume more soft drink that water.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

DNA plays a role in metabolism and nothing more

it's up to you if you exercise and eat right, not up to your parents

 

[cancat]

Most of the adverse side effects really kick in well past the average life span of pre-industrial humans.

And people only need to live long enough to breed...

People who disagree with the findings need to say how they have a problem with the studies where adopted twins had similar weight to their genetic parents rather than their adoptive ones.

 

[Ron The Bear]

People who disagree with the findings need to say how they have a problem with the studies where adopted twins had similar weight to their genetic parents rather than their adoptive ones.

There's body shape and then there's obesity. I don't know of anyone who became obese in spite of a healthy lifestyle.

Just another abrogation of personal responsibility.

 

[Clay Davis]

It seems to me that whatever problem there is with obesity (and whether such a problem exists), it is far more complex than the glib reasons idiots offer as the motivating factors.

 

[Ron The Bear]

It seems to me that whatever problem there is with obesity (and whether such a problem exists), it is far more complex than the glib reasons idiots offer as the motivating factors.

Psychological? I agree.

 

[Clay Davis]

Psychological? I agree.

Given it is apparently so widespread, how has such a psychological affliction affected so many?

 

[Ron The Bear]

Given it is apparently so widespread, how has such a psychological affliction affected so many?

Given that the incidence of obesity has increased in recent decades, it's either a psycho-social phenomenon, or fat people are more fertile. I'm certain most obese people would prefer not to be so, but they are not sufficiently troubled by it to make the required changes.

Do you seriously contend that obesity is not directly related to lifestyle? That you can become obese while your levels of physical activity and calorie intake are in balance?

This is just telling overweight people what they want to hear - that they are effectively victims of their progenitors and therefore not responsible for their own wellbeing.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

All i know is that i've seen obese/fat people who have changed their diet (cut out soft drinks, no "snacks", healthy main meals) and do moderate exercise (start with walking, then light jogging etc.,) and the weight melts off.

 

[cancat]

There's body shape and then there's obesity. I don't know of anyone who became obese in spite of a healthy lifestyle.

The research used body mass index as a measure.

The two major findings of this study were that there was a clear relation between the body-mass index of biologic parents and the weight class of adoptees, suggesting that genetic influences are important determinants of body fatness; and that there was no relation between the body-mass index of adoptive parents and the weight class of adoptees, suggesting that childhood family environment alone has little or no effect.

The identical twins had nearly identical body mass indexes, whether they had been reared apart or together. There was more variation in the body mass indexes of the fraternal twins, who, like any siblings, share some, but not all, genes.
The researchers concluded that 70 percent of the variation in peoples’ weights may be accounted for by inheritance, a figure that means that weight is more strongly inherited than nearly any other condition, including mental illness, breast cancer or heart disease.

Just another abrogation of personal responsibility.

I'm a big believer in personal responsibility. But it might not apply in this case if the research is valid.

 

[Clay Davis]

The research used body mass index as a measure.







I'm a big believer in personal responsibility. But it might not apply in this case if the research is valid.

There's also growing evidence of 'neo-Lamarckism' which is showing that genes for reproduction aren't effectively hard-wired from birth. So for instance, it is possible that if a parent has grown to be overweight, those genes passed on will more likely cause a predisposition for being overweight in the offspring, even though the genetic ancestry is one of thinness.

The basics of diet and exercise are fundamental to variations in a person's weight, but what the proper weight of a person is is probably be determined by their genetics, and those genetics may be more complex than first thought.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/8...-survive-digestion-and-alter-gene-expression/

 

[Ron The Bear]

I'm a big believer in personal responsibility. But it might not apply in this case if the research is valid.

If the conclusion of this (2007!) research is correct, and a "naturally" obese person with a poor diet was offered only healthy food but without being encouraged to lose weight, he/she would eat more than usual in order to remain in the comfortable weight range. I remain skeptical...