Skinny genes key to staying slim: Study

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Skinny genes key to staying slim: Study

They found that thin people had a much lower genetic risk score - they had fewer genetic variants that we know increase a person's chances of being overweight.

By IANS

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Published: Sat 26 Jan 2019, 10:47 PM

Last updated: Sun 27 Jan 2019, 12:51 AM

It's not only healthy food and exercise, but skinny genes that hold the key 'to staying slim', say researchers who found that slim people have a genetic advantage when it comes to maintaining their weight.
The study, led by University of Cambridge researchers, looked at why some people manage to stay thin while others easily gain weight.
They found that thin people had a much lower genetic risk score - they had fewer genetic variants that we know increase a person's chances of being overweight.
"This research shows for the first time that healthy thin people are generally thin because they have a lower burden of genes that increase a person's chances of being overweight and not because they are morally superior, as some people like to suggest," said Professor Sadaf Farooqi from the varsity.
"It's easy to rush to judgement and criticise people for their weight, but the science shows that things are far more complex. We have far less control over our weight than we might wish to think," he added.
In the study, published in the journal PLOS Genetics, the researchers compared the DNA of some 14,000 people - 1,622 thin volunteers, 1,985 severely obese people and 10,433 normal weight controls, and three out of four people had a family history of being thin and healthy. 


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