A craving for food rich in calories in certain people may be due to genes according to a new study. There is a report from British reporters that food which is dense with calories are consumed by children who are born with a particular variant of a gene. There was however no change in the rate of metabolism among children with and without the gene variation. This was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine’s December 11th issue.
According to the University of Dundee’s Biomedical research Institute pharmacogenomics chairman and senior study author Colin Palmer, there is an inherent trait in people who are born with this variant of gene which drives them to eat fattening and unhealthy food as is evident in this study. In a news release, he went on to say that while this is not an occurrence but just a trait.
University of Pittsburg Medical Center’s weight management and wellness center at the Pittsburg Children’s hospital director Dr. Goutham Rao said that since there was no difference found in the rates of metabolism, these findings are hopeful.
He went on to say that the results prove that the influence of the genes on obesity is on the behavior, not the metabolism. This shows something can be done about it. Statistics of the Disease Control and Prevention’s US Centers show that US children who are affected by the problem of obesity amount to more than 16 percent. Statistics get grim as they grow up with 35 percent of adults obese, says CDC.
