Obesity risk genes can make people feel more hungry and lose control over their eating, according to new research, although exercising dietary restraint can help reverse this.
Research from the University of Exeter, the Exeter Clinical Research Facility and the University of Bristol, funded by the Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership and published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, has shown that people at high genetic risk of obesity can reduce its effects. Abstinence transmits up to half through hunger and uncontrolled eating.
The paper is titled “Mediation and moderation of genetic risk of obesity through eating behavior in two UK cohorts” and is published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
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Shahina Begum, a PhD student in psychology from the University of Exeter, is lead author and said: “At a time when high-calorie foods are aggressively marketed to us, it is more important than ever to understand how genes influence BMI. We do.
We already know that these genes influence symptoms and behaviors such as appetite and emotional eating, but what makes this study different is that we looked at the effects of these behaviors with two types of dietary restraint, rigid and flexible. effect tested. What we discovered for the first time was that increasing both types of abstinence could potentially improve BMI in people who are genetically at risk; This means that abstinence-based interventions to target the problem may be useful.”
Obesity-associated genes increase BMI, with a quarter of the effect attributed to increased appetite and uncontrolled (including emotional) eating. Researchers have so far identified more than 900 genes as being associated with BMI, and several studies suggest that these risk genes influence feelings of hunger and loss of control over food.
The study examined 3,780 adults aged 22 to 92 from two UK cohorts: the Genetics of Appetite Study, and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Their weight and height were measured, and a DNA sample was provided through their blood to calculate an overall score of their genetic risk of obesity. They then completed questionnaires measuring 13 different eating behaviors, including inhibition (the tendency to eat excessively or emotionally) and overeating due to hunger.
As expected, the researchers found that higher genetic risk scores were associated with higher BMI, which was partly due to increased food intolerance and hunger. However, the results also found that those who had higher levels of dietary restraint reduced those effects by about a half for inhibition and by a third for appetite, suggesting that restraint may mask some of the effects of genetic risk. can resist.
There are different types of dietary restraint, ranging from flexible strategies such as being mindful of what you eat to more rigid strategies such as intentionally counting calories in small amounts. The study tested the effect of both types of abstinence for the first time and found that both could potentially improve BMI in people who are genetically at risk.