Your slim figure is because of your lean genes

London: It's not just healthy food and exercise, but lean genes that "keep it thin," say researchers who have found that thin people have a genetic advantage in terms of maintaining their health. weight. The study, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, examined why some people manage to stay slim while others easily gain weight.

They found that thin people had a much lower genetic risk score – they had fewer genetic variants that, as we know, increased a person's risk of being overweight.

"This research shows for the first time that healthy, thin people in good health are generally lean because they have fewer genes that increase the risk of being overweight and not because they are morally superior, like the suggest some people, "said Professor Sadaf. Farooqi of varsity.

"It's easy to judge and criticize people for their weight, but science shows that things are much more complex – we have much less control over our weight than we might think," he added.

In the study published in the journal PLOS Genetics, researchers compared the DNA of some 14,000 people – 1,622 thin volunteers, 1,985 severe obese people and 10,433 normal weight controls.

Three out of four people had a family history of leanness and poor health, and the team discovered genetic modifications that are much more common in thin people, which could allow them to identify new genes and biological mechanisms that help people stay slim.

To see the impact of these genes on the weight of an individual, the researchers added the contribution of different genetic variants to the calculation of a genetic risk score.

"As expected, we found that obese people had a higher genetic risk score than normal-weight people, which contributes to their risk of overweight.The genetic dice are loaded against them," said Ines Barroso, Wellcome Sanger Institute.

"If we can find the genes that prevent them from gaining weight, we may be able to target them to find new strategies for weight loss and help people who do not have this benefit," Farooqi added.