Could Genetics Merely Give Patients Another Reason For Their Severe Obesity?

Gastric bypass surgery is a lifesaver for a growing number of us as the problem of obesity sweeps across much of the western world but its greatest problem is to be found in the fact that a noteworthy number of us either fail to lose enough weight following surgery or subsequently regain much of the weight which is lost initially.

There are naturally various explanations for this failure to lose weight or to put on weight again and at the top of the list in unquestionably the fact that too many people just find it too hard to make the lifestyle changes necessary following surgery and simply eat their way back into obesity. However, scientists have now discovered a genetic component which may account for some people's failure to lose weight following a gastric bypass.

In a study which involved in excess of 700 severely obese patients blood samples were taken to test for the presence of two single nucleotide polymorphisma (SNPs). In layman's terms a SNP is a sequence of human DNA, variations in the pattern of which might indicate the way in which individuals will develop diseases and also respond to such things as drugs and vaccines. Without looking at the details of this particular study which are more than a little complicated, the scientists concluded that about twenty percent of the people examined had combination of specific SNPs which indicate they are at risk of not merely failing to lose weight following weight loss surgery, but might actually be at risk of gaining weight.

The problem we face now is not chiefly one of finding an answer for those individuals who suffer from obesity, but of preventing obesity to start with and this is very much a question of education. There is no question that a minority of individuals are prone to obesity and genetics and other similar factors may well play a role in this. However, the vast majority of the obesity we see these days results from little more than bad eating habits and a failure to take enough exercise.

The true problem however is that when people are obese it is human nature to try to find any reason for their excessive weight which takes away that guilty feeling which comes from the fact that they might just have caused the problem themselves. What better excuse can you hand somebody than to say to them that their weight problem is genetic.

This is not to suggest that research into SNPs is not valid or to say that there is no genetic component to the failure to lose weight or to regain weight following weight loss surgery. The danger however is to release this data at too early a stage in the research process and simply handing individuals yet another excuse for not doing something about their obesity at a time when obesity is at epidemic levels and more importantly is increasingly being seen in children at earlier and earlier ages.

Research is important and must be given its place in the scheme of things but we must be careful that it does not sidetrack us from the real need to tackle the problem of obesity by educating individuals to alter their eating habits and take sufficient exercise.

Article Source: Main Articles

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