Are Your Genes Making You Fat ?

Geneticist Dr Giles Yeo believes food is not the only thing to blame for our growing weight problem

- Lucy E. Cousins

You’re running late for work, pulling dresses, skirts and pants out of your cupboard like you’re picking fruit. Each one is not quite sitting right – a little tight on the hips and a little snug on the tummy. In desperation, you reach for your go-to dress that resembles a deflated tent. Could it be that you’re just bloated from last night’s creamy pasta? Or maybe it’s that you skipped the gym this week? Or are your genes to blame for the weight gain?

Geneticist Dr Giles Yeo, author of Gene Eating: The Science of Obesity and the Truth about Diets, believes the genetic links to our ancestors dictates how our body reacts to food. In his new book, he explains how our genes could have a distinct effect on how our bodies metabolise and process fat, and his research could be the missing link to solving the world’s obesity epidemic.

Genes vs DNA

To grasp Yeo’s theory, you’ve got to understand the connection between genes and DNA. Although the two words are often used interchangeably, they refer to different things. Our DNA is a chain of “links” that defines how the cells in our body will function, and each of us has DNA that spans back to the cavewomen. Our genes define the traits we inherit from our parents. It’s a combination of the two that is essential to how your body functions.

Yeo points out that changes and mutations in our DNA happen constantly in response to our environment. And it’s these seemingly small changes over generations that dictate in many ways how an individual responds to the modern world.