by Jane Allyson

Created on: July 30, 2008

Scientists in Aberdeen have found that people with a variant of the FTO gene (which was linked to obesity last year) are literally compelled to eat more food, consuming almost 300 calories more each day than the average person.

They claim that their findings uphold the view that some people definitely find it harder to lose weight than others.

The team from the Rowett Research Institute and Aberdeen University studied 150 people from North-east Scotland. Aged between 21 and 60, a fifth was obese and 34% overweight.

Their research has shown evidence that a link to the "at risk" variant of the gene causes an increased food intake in humans. They suggest that their data clearly shows that people are literally driven to eat more food and because they have the variant gene, it may be harder for them to lose weight.

Dr Colin Waine, the chairman of the National Obesity Forum, welcomes the new findings and says that it helps us to understand why some people who successfully lose weight still have trouble, saying "There must be millions of people who have successfully lost weight but could not sustain it over the long term", and adding that, "Over weeks, months and years, 300 extra calories a day is going to make you balloon."

I find this interesting information from a personal point of view because I have a good friend who suffers from morbid obesity. It certainly would help to explain why over the years he has slowly become bigger in size yet eaten, (as far as I know) ordinary meals, and very often hardly anything at all.

He will be able to have an operation to help him control his eating habits, but as his wife tells me helplessly: "What eating habits? All the operation will mean to him is that he will be able to starve himself much easier." The irony is that the operation can only go ahead if he is willing to lose three stone first.

He can't want to lose weight that much, if he finds it hard to lose just three stone, do I hear you ask? Well perhaps you would like to tell him that yourself. He will then be able to give you graphic details of his five attempted suicides, tell you about his four children that have not had a "proper" father for the last five years and break his heart over his failing marriage. He can tell you about the shame that he feels when he has to go out in public, and the misery he feels when he sees the looks of disgust from other people. He can barely walk the length of his front room and has been classed as disabled for the past two years.

He is an ex-army man with an intense feeling of pride for his family and a deep and abiding love for his wife. But he feels that for his sake and his family's sake, he would be better off dead.

Does this sound like a man who is deliberately stuffing his face because he is simply greedy? Do you think that he has a choice in how much he can eat, or how little?

Obesity is a worldwide problem. It will not go away simply by providing people with a better education, an encouragement to eat healthily and adequate exercise.

It needs sorting out at a much deeper level, and our scientists are so close to finding out what the real problem is. At last, obese people may have a chance to turn their lives around. We just need to know for sure, that's all.

So the very next time you come into contact with an obese person. Please don't look away with disgust or point and make a comment. He will see you, he is not blind, he will hear you, he is not deaf, he will understand what you are saying because he is not stupid.

He is a human being like anyone else.

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