Obesity Vs Genetics

Long ago, human ancestors had to live off of survival skills. One of said survival skills was foraging. During this time period, seeking and gathering food was a necessary task for survival. Nowadays, there are an abundance of drive-through restaurants and junk food grocery aisles to fulfil every craving. Nevertheless these advancements have had catastrophe effects on human health. This disaster is commonly referred to as obesity. While there is always a way to manage weight, scientists have debated whether someone becomes overweight due to genetics, or due to learning unhealthy behaviors as they grow and develop. Studies on the subject have shown that adolescents with obese parents or siblings are six times more likely to be obese (Bouchard, 2009). However, it is unclear from these studies whether this is a result of unhealthy family habits or genetics. …show more content…
Scientist state that “the mutation releases hormones which are known to influence an individual's weight by an increase in appetite and a decrease in the amount of energy used by the body” (Bouchard, 2009). Timothy Frayling, professor of human genetics, argues that ‘genetics “outweigh’’ environmental factors as possible causes of obesity.’ A gene related to obesity has also been identified; test subjects with two copies of the FTO gene are generally bigger compared to subjects that did not have the gene mutation present (Timothy, 2012). However, it’s noted that such mutations in genes only account for about 5% of cases of childhood obesity (Bouchard, 2009). More research needs to be done on genes that may explain a greater amount obesity in