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| Yes | 18% | 141 votes | Total: 802 votes | |
| No | 82% | 661 votes |
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Add to FavoritesIt's easy for thin people to blame overeating and fast food restaurants for obesity. The problem with that is that it doesn't make sense for most cases. Why is it that thin people with high metabolisms can eat pizza on a Saturday night and go out to get ice cream on a hot summer day, but if a larger person is standing in line to get an ice cream their obesity is caused by that ice cream? Obesity has to do with genetics. Having a high metabolism and being thin is a genetic trait, just as much as an obese family with diabetes that runs in their genetics.
It doesn't seem fair to me that a thin person can eat junk food all day long and remain thin, while an obese person has to diet and exercises for countless hours and not lose weight. The worst part is that diets don't work. The cause for that is genetics. It's a great excuse for thin people to say, "This diet worked for me and it can work for you too." What they don't tell you is that they already had the thin gene in their family and that is why they are thin.
What that means is that if your parents, your siblings, your grandparents, and almost everyone in your family is thin, but you are not, then maybe you gorge yourself on unhealthy food too often. However if that skinny gene runs in your family, it's in you too and it may be possible to get thin. But if your parents, siblings, grandparents, and almost everyone else in your family is on the big side then it will be very difficult to become thin because of the genes.
If you look at different sets of photos of parents and children you will notice that they they share similar eye colors, hair colors, skin tones, facial structure, and "body type." Why is it so hard to believe genetics is to blame? Thin people want to feel better about themselves. From the time they were in grade school yelling names and throwing food at the fat kid to now- they have always wanted to say that they are thin and they are the reason why they are thin, and that we are fat and we are the reason why we are fat.
Finally obese people are telling it how it is- genetics is why every calorie goes straight to our thighs while our skinny best friend's calories burn away. As a side note, blaming genetics wasn't made to be an excuse for large people that actually have eating disorders. I admit that some extremely obese citizens that can't leave their beds because of their weight will need help. That kind of situation is definitely overeating to cause such a thing to happen, not genetics. But as for the rest of us plus size people, we continue the good fight- battling diets, exercises, tempting foods, thin people criticism, and our own genetics.
Learn more about this author, Samantha Overmyer.
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No
What role do genetics play in America's obesity epidemic? Are there really some individuals who, no matter how much they try, are destined to be overweight because of heredity? How many times have you heard someone say, "Why fight it? I'm always going to be overweight; it's in my genes." Can genetics legitimately be blamed for a preponderance of overweight individuals within the same birth family?
While heredity may play a role in determining the rate of metabolic inefficiency, obesity is not considered by medical science to be the predominate result of genetics. Much is known about the relationship between food intake, exercise, and weight loss. Comparatively, much is hypothesized about the relationship between genetics and obesity, but most of it is theory. Still, the role that genetics plays in contributing to obesity appears to be worthy of consideration. Science is hard at work studying the relationship between certain genes that are more prevalent in the body types of individuals more prone to obesity... Geneticists believe that they will one day uncover a significant relationship between obesity and the genetic factors involved in being overweight.
The Center for Disease Control hypothesizes that our long-ago ancestors were able to endure the hardships of famine due to the evolution of "energy-thrifty-gene s" that multiplied as the result of the less-than-optimal conditions for survival. They argue that because genes slowly mutate, that today's generation is more susceptible to obesity. This is due to the frequent consumption of energy rich foods with high caloric intake and the lack of time necessary for human beings to develop a new gene strain to compensate. Theories such as the "thrifty-gene theory" base their suppositions on studies showing that environmental factors do seem to play a role, over time, in how diet affects ethnicities that share common genetic make-up.
Setting gene theory aside however, being overweight occurs when more fuel is entering the body than is being utilized. Simply put, all food that can be converted into energy contains heat-producing units called calories. We find calories in fat, protein, carbohydrates, and alcohol. When excess calories sit in the human body and are not consumed as a form of energy, they are stored as fat. Each time the body accumulates approximately 3500 unused calories, a pound of fat is stored. Over time, as excessive amounts of these units of unused energy are consumed, additional pounds become stored until an individual becomes "obese." Obesity is determined by body mass index (BMI), which is based on average weight for a given height. When an individual's BMI is 30 or above, he is considered to be obese.
The USDA recommends that the average individual consume 2000 calories per day. If the same individual is obese and wishes to lose weight, he must consume fewer calories than needed for maintenance. This means that a total consumption of perhaps 1500 calories will produce weight loss over time. This is often accomplished by a combination of increasing exercise to boost the metabolic rate and decreasing calories to compensate for less metabolic efficiency.
It's always more comfortable to blame those extra 40 pounds on heredity than to admit that poor choices and lack of self-discipline are even bigger culprits. It's much easier to claim that we can't lose weight because both of our parents were "big" people. By making our gene pool culpable, we believe that being obese is more acceptable to the diet and exercise gurus who advocate nutrition and workouts at the local gym as keys to a healthy body; a body that is not overweight. Is asserting that genetics is the major predictor of successful weight loss a valid argument?
Anyone can lose weight. If being overweight was the direct result of genetics, then weight loss would not be possible for those genetically predisposed to be obese. Instead, we know that although some individuals burn calories less efficiently due to metabolic differences, obesity can still be reversed with good diet and adequate exercise. While it's probably true that not everyone can be size 2, we just can't automatically blame heredity for the fact that we can barely fit into a size 22.
Whether you favor genetic theory or advocate for nutrition as being the major cause of obesity, it is still wise to limit intake of highly caloric foods to offset the potential for excessive weight gain. Even if the thrifty-gene theory is ultimately proven, any break-through in weight loss as the result of gene manipulation will not come in time to prevent your generation from suffering with obesity- or mine.
Learn more about this author, Dr. Deborah Bauers.
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