Tag Archives: bmi

Obesity gene FTO no barrier to weight loss, study shows

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Photo: John Slater/Getty Images

By Susan Rinkunas

September 21, 2016

This awful week just got worse: New research suggests that the so-called obesity gene is not to blame for your inability to lose weight.

There are almost 100 genes linked to obesity, but one in particular, FTO, has the strongest connection to weight in white and black people. (It’s involved in regulating how the body either turns calories into fat or burns them for heat.) For a paper in BMJ, researchers at Newcastle University looked at genetic data from more than 9,000 people enrolled in eight studies to see how the FTO gene affected weight loss.

The participants were randomly assigned to different weight-loss methods (including diet, exercise, and weight-loss drug) and in studies that ranged in length from eight weeks to three years. The researchers were surprised to find that having the mutation didn’t matter: There was no significant difference in changes in weight, BMI, or waist circumference.

Lead author John Mathers told Time, “We think this is good news — carrying the high risk [form of the gene] makes you more likely to be a bit heavier but it shouldn’t prevent you from losing weight. That should encourage people.” Oh yes, a lifetime of careful eating is super encouraging.

Source: Obesity Gene Can’t Be Blamed for Difficulty Losing Weight

Obesity less dangerous than 40 years ago

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May 11, 2016

New research from Denmark involving more than 100,000 individuals suggests that the excess risk of premature death associated with obesity has decreased over the past 40 years. All-cause mortality was higher in obese individuals than in normal weight individuals in 1976-78, but not in 2003-13.

Many try to lose weight to avoid diabetes and cardiovascular disease and hopefully live longer. This is often driven by recommendations from health care authorities and is further supported by the media and not least, by commercials often presenting normal weight or even thin people as ideal humans.

“The increased risk of all-cause mortality associated with obesity compared to normal weight decreased from 30% 1976-78 to 0% in 2003-13,” says principal investigator Dr. Shoaib Afzal, Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark.

This research has just been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

What is the optimal BMI for lowest mortality?

The study also revealed changes in the BMI associated with the lowest all-cause mortality in three cohorts from Copenhagen, examined respectively in 1976-78, 1991-1994, and in 2003-2013 (all individuals were followed until 2014).

“The optimal BMI for the lowest mortality increased from 23.7 in 1976-78, through 24.6 in 1991-94, to 27 in 2003-13, while individuals with a BMI below or above the optimal value had higher mortality,” adds Shoaib Afzal.

“Compared to the 1970’s, today’s overweight individuals have lower mortality than so-called normal weight individuals. The reason for this change is unknown. However, these results would indicate a need to revise the categories presently used to define overweight, which are based on data from before the 1990’s” says senior author Clinical Professor Borge G. Nordestgaard, University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital.

“Importantly, our results should not be interpreted as suggesting that now people can eat as much as they like, or that so-called normal weight individuals should eat more to become overweight. That said, maybe overweight people need not be quite as worried about their weight as before”, adds Nordestgaard.

Obesity and overweight are classified using Body Mass Index (BMI), calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A BMI of 25-29.9 represents overweight, a BMI of 30 or greater represents obesity, while a BMI of 18.5-24.9 is considered normal weight. These categories are often used for recommendations on optimum weight.

Source: University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Source: Obesity less dangerous than 40 years ago | Science Codex