Genes aren’t to blame for inability to lose weight

Although individuals may be able to blame genes for weighing more, they may not be able to blame them for an inability to lose weight. This is the conclusion of a study published in the BMJ. Carriers of the FTO gene are known to be an average of 3kg heavier and 70% more likely to be obese than their counterparts without FTO, however after a review of studies analysing data from 9,563 people, it has been found that this gene did not prevent them losing weight.
The study has therefore found that people with the FTO gene respond just as well to weight loss interventions as everyone else, this was across all age groups, ethnicities and gender. However this study had few numbers of ethnic minorities, therefore the team have explained that further research must be conducted to assess the effect of the FTO gene in these groups.