Can Your Genes Make You Fat?
Written on October 23, 2007 – 12:31 pm | by Jeff Ainslie
Forbes.com recently posted and article entitled “Genes Might Help Drive Overeating“.
The article discusses a study done at the University of Buffalo where they found a link between the amount of Dopamine in a person’s brain and how much they eat. Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that gives a person a good feeling. People with naturally lower levels of Dopamine, consumed more food to raise up their Dopamine levels.
In our society, with an excess of food available to everyone, we eat not only to survive but for enjoyment. Think of any social occasion that you attend where there isn’t anything to eat. We enjoy eating and most of our social lives revolve around eating.
The study was not a study on obesity, but was on the motivation that people had to eat. In one part of the study, participants were told that they were doing a taste test, but they were allowed to continue to eat as much as they wanted. The researchers found a correlation between the people who consumed more food and a specific gene that those people had.
The people who had this specific gene were heavier on average, but not all. This tells me that someone is not doomed to be heavy if they have this gene. You will always have a choice of what to eat and how much to eat. If you like to eat more food at one time than average, you need to find food alternatives that are low in calories and more filling – it can be done.
Having this gene may pre-dispose you to want to eat more than average, but it isn’t an excuse for being over-weight, it is just another factor that people can learn to overcome. Did you know that exercise naturally improves your mood, raises your Dopamine levels and speeds up your metabolism? Listen to this week’s podcast for more information as we discuss this topic in more detail.
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Tags: Fat Loss, Genetic factors of weight loss, Genetic food cravings, Weight loss
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