Is obesity genetic or environmental? If you ask a lot of conventional doctors, genetics may be their first response. After all, some ‘skinny’ people can eat fried food all day and look perfectly healthy.
So you sign up to test your family genetics for contributing factors of obesity. You know it’s expensive — potentially several thousand dollars — but you’re ready to get to the bottom of the mystery and figure out why you can’t keep the weight off.
You’re not alone. Obesity testing in the United States has become a fast-growing trend, likely due to increased pressure from medical professionals and flashy online ads.
But not only does obesity testing often fail to locate the source of the problem, it may trap you into believing that your obesity is ‘incurable’ or ‘untreatable’ without the help of prescription medications.
It’s true there are genetic obesity disorders that make it harder for some people to lose weight. However, your genes cannot prevent you from taking back control of your health, or even shedding pounds you never thought you could.
I know because I did it.
And with the right plan of action, you can too.
The role of genetics in susceptibility to obesity
There have been thousands of studies performed worldwide on genetics and their role on obesity. Of these, researchers have identified approximately 50 different genes that play a role in human adiposity, or fatty tissue.
However, no single genetic cause for obesity has ever been discovered. The gene with the most culpability is MC4R, which regulates how hungry you are between meals. Damage to your MC4R can lead to progressive overeating — but this occurs in less than 5% of all obesity cases across all ethnicities.
There are also some very rare disorders contributing to weight gain in humans. These include:
- Bardet Biedl Syndrome: A condition that typically involves learning disabilities, poor kidney function, and multiple fingers or toes at birth. Bardet Biedl Syndrome affects one in 250,000 people worldwide, or an estimated 3,000 people in the US.
- Alström Syndrome: An inherited disorder that is associated with diabetes, heart disease, and rapid or continuous weight gain. Alström Syndrome impacts less than one in a million people worldwide, which equates to roughly 300 people in the United States.
If you’ve struggled with obesity all your life, it’s highly unlikely that genetics have any major role. However, it’s easy to see a heritage of health troubles and assume their effects on your lineage. If your grandfather was obese and your father has always struggled with weight, you’re more likely to assume you’re destined for the same fate.
And yet, there are people all around us who have changed their family tree.
I was a fat heart surgeon on a sure path to heart disease. Everyone in my family was overweight.
Do I have different genetics from my parents? No.
And yet, I changed my habits and lost the weight.
What actually affects obesity in humans?
It’s easy to assume genetics are a major part of obesity.
But the reality is it’s the result of habits that get passed down through the generations.
The major cause of America’s obesity epidemic comes from the food we eat. If your parents ate donuts and sugary cereals for breakfast, it’s likely you did too — and still do.
This isn’t your fault. Instead, it’s just the product of a broken food system and a poorly researched food pyramid.
Our propensity for obesity also depends on other habits, which generally include:
- Our sleep habits
- Our stress management tasks
- Our amount of exercise per day
- Our medications or prescriptions
In the nature versus nurture debate, obesity is almost always a product of environment. You’ve likely grown up with unhealthy habits that have contributed to your weight or metabolic function.
And thankfully, that makes it all the more manageable.
How to lose ‘genetic fat’ without medication or surgery
Genetics may have some role in obesity, as many recent studies point out. However, they’re extremely rare and limited in nature, especially when compared to environmental factors (like the way your parents cooked).
Plus, the clinical applications of genetic testing are extremely limited and fail to provide much actionable advice.
Thankfully, you don’t need genetic testing for obesity to start making impactful life changes. You also don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to request expensive tests.
You can start today by:
- Changing the food you eat. Throw away processed carbohydrates, baked goods, and sugars and replace them with whole foods including vegetables and animal proteins.
- Spending 30 minutes a day exercising. Cardio is often ineffective for losing weight, as it causes you to expend more energy and feel more hungry than usual. Instead, I recommend resistance exercises that help you build metabolically active muscles.
- Focusing on environmental factors that may be working against your efforts. Sleep, stress, and habits like smoking and drinking could be negatively affecting your metabolic health.
You may still want to perform some testing to estimate the state of your health. That’s not a bad idea — in fact, I encourage it — so long as you focus on lab work with interpretable results.
I suggest starting with ordered lab tests to estimate your metabolic health. If you’re not sure where to get started or want some clarification, you’re welcome to explore my introduction to lab work course.