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Hidden appetite rules that sabotage your weight loss plans
🇷🇸 Serbia /Health & Science

Hidden appetite rules that sabotage your weight loss plans

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Genetics play a significant role in body weight, influencing appetite regulation through hunger, satiety, and reward signals.
  • Studies on twins show that heritability of body weight ranges from 40% to 70%, comparable to height.
  • The brain regulates appetite by monitoring body fat and recent food intake via hormones, with interconnected areas controlling these functions.

While environmental factors and lifestyle choices are often blamed for the rise in obesity, genetics play a substantial, though not exclusive, role in determining an individual's body weight. Research, particularly studies on twins, indicates that the heritability of body weight falls between 40% and 70%. This suggests a strong genetic predisposition, approaching the high heritability of height, which is around 85%.

When we talk about body weight, it is too often seen as a matter of lifestyle, habit, lack of willpower, or personal choice.

— Giles YeoGiles Yeo, a professor at the University of Cambridge whose research focuses on food intake, genetics, and obesity, discusses the role of genetics in body weight.

Professor Giles Yeo from the University of Cambridge explains that the genetic influence on body weight is primarily linked to how the brain controls appetite. This complex process involves three key concepts: hunger, regulated by the hypothalamus; satiety, controlled mainly by the hindbrain; and reward, managed by the brain's hedonic regions. These areas are interconnected and constantly communicate, influencing our desire for food.

The reality is that rapid changes in the environment and lifestyle have undoubtedly led to a rise in obesity worldwide, but there are still people who are thin and people who are not.

— Giles YeoGiles Yeo, a professor at the University of Cambridge whose research focuses on food intake, genetics, and obesity, discusses the role of genetics in body weight.

The brain needs to understand two main factors to regulate appetite: the amount of fat stored in the body and the quantity of food recently consumed. Both pieces of information are conveyed to the brain through hormones circulating in the bloodstream. This intricate hormonal signaling system allows the brain to maintain a balance, though genetic variations can significantly impact its efficiency and an individual's susceptibility to weight gain.

There is clearly a large variation in body weight even in today's 'obesity-promoting' environment. A large part of that, though by no means all, comes down to genetics.

— Giles YeoGiles Yeo, a professor at the University of Cambridge whose research focuses on food intake, genetics, and obesity, discusses the role of genetics in body weight.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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