There is the so-called ‘light switch’ that makes you fat, according to a new study. The mysterious switch is so potent it gives you obesity for your whole life, while even your genetically identical twin could remain normal.
Thus, overweight people struggle with obesity not because of inherited traits or overeating, the study claims. In many cases, obesity is caused by an unknown, yet to be studied in details, factor, which occurs possibly in the womb or in early childhood.
Such findings were published by Andrew Pospisilik of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Germany.
Genetically identical mice that carried a mutation in a protein (Trim28) were studied, and it turns out that some became obese, while others remained with normal weight. Thus, genes that regulate bodyweight of the mice were affected by obesity in some mice, but not others.
The researchers then started studying people and they found that children with the mutation were also divided into two groups: obese and with normal weight. Overweight children showed identical suppression of the genes that regulate weight as mice.
The researchers then examined identical twins, one of which was obese and the other had normal weight. The activity of the Trim28 was suppressed in the obese children, while children with normal weight did not have the Trim28 levels suppressed.
The researchers stopped short of identifying the cause of what triggers such a change in the human body.
“It could be physical stress, it could be nutrient stress, we don’t know. It could be happening in utero or later on, but that is the major focus of our research going forward,” said Pospisilik.
However, the obesity switch can be ‘switched off’ for subsequent generations to avoid obesity.
“In rodents, the switch appears to reset for each generation,” the researcher added.
If you have excess weight, you can still lose it by following certain recommendations from nutrition and diet experts. Here is a list of simple lifehacks that will help you lose weight.
