Question: Would it be possible to inherit 'obese genes' from your parents, I.E. making you more susceptible to weight gain?

Heather McKee answered on 25 Jun 2010:

Good question! Yes a lot of peoples weight gain can be due to genetics, if your parents are pre-disposed to laying down more fat then unfortunatly this pre-disposes you too. This predisposure to gaining weight was highly usefull in pre-historic times as the ability to gain weight easily meant increased chances of survival. However just because you may be pre-disposed to ‘obese genes’ doesnt mean you are destined to be overweight, the other massive contributing factor to your weight is your environment. For example you control your physical activity levels and food consumption-however in this way our parents and those around us can again influence our weight gain. One recent study showed that if one of your friends become obese you are twice as likely to become obese yourself due to similar environments and social comparison. Also our learned environment has an effect if you have only learned to eat ready meals and takeaways then your ability to prepare and eat fresh healthy food is hampered unless you make a concious effort to learn about it. Within my research at the moment I’m looking for a way to counteract this by trying to induce the opposite effect-if your friends and family can non-conciously cause you to gain weight im trying to come up with a method where the reverse my happen-that your friends and family can non conciously make you loose weight.

On a final note although genetics and learned environment can have an influence on ones weight gain, this isnt inevitable. You can take control of your health by maintaining a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle you can remain a healthy weight throughout your life-independent of your parents weight.