Genetic Factor

Genetic factor plays a role in causing obesity. With the help of another study it is proved that if both the parents are fat 73% of their children are also fat. If one of the parents is fat then 45% of their children are fat. If both the parents are of normal weight only 9% children appear to be fat.

It is an undeniable fact that every individual inherits his physical constitution. Some experts believe that a person inherits only the structure of the body. Means genetic factor is limited to only the structure of the body and not obesity of the body. Children generally take their meals with their parents and follow habits of their parents and become fat.

These genetic risk factors tend to be familiar, but are not inherited in a simple manner; they may reflect many genetic variations, and each variation may contribute a small amount of risk and may interact with environmental elements to produce the clinical condition of obesity. An active area of research is determining associations between various obesity-related phenotypes with variations in candidate genes or through linkage studies with anonymous markers spread over the human genome. Learning how genetic variations affect susceptibility to become or remain obese will lead us to a greater understanding of how obesity occurs and, hopefully, how better to prevent and treat this condition.

To prevent overweight the public health messages emphasize a nutritious diet and daily physical activity. Many who follow this advice from the outset are able to maintain a healthy weight, even with a genetic susceptibility to gain weight. These lifestyle interventions have a range of uptake and effectiveness, especially if obesity is already present. The public health interventions aimed at the general population are not a complete solution for people who are already overweight. Insights from genetics and molecular biology in controlling appetite and activity may provide more effective drug therapies for treatment of affected individuals. For long term health, continue to emphasize the importance of diet and exercise as major factors , public health needs to also seek new approaches such as considering genetic factors in risk factor assessment and intervention design.