Are Genetics Merely Another Excuse To Explain Morbid Obesity?

Are Genetics Merely Another Excuse To Explain Morbid Obesity?

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Gastric bypass surgery is proving to be a lifesaver for a lot of individuals as obesity continues to sweep across the western world but its greatest problem is to be found in the fact that a significant number of individuals either fail to lose enough weight after surgery or subsequently put back much of the weight that is lost.

Of course there are a variety of reasons for this failure to lose weight or to put on weight again and top of the list in without doubt the fact that too many people simply find it too hard to make the lifestyle adjustments needed after surgery and simply eat their way back into obesity. However, scientists have now identified a genetic component that might account for some people's failure to lose weight after a gastric bypass.

In a recent study which involved more than seven hundred severely obese patients blood samples were tested for the presence of two single nucleotide polymorphisma (SNPs). In simple terms a SNP is a sequence of human DNA, variations of the pattern in which might indicate the way in which individuals will develop diseases and respond to such things as vaccines and drugs. Without looking at the details of this particular study which are complicated to say the least, the scientists found that roughly twenty percent of those examined had combination of particular SNPs that indicate that they are at risk of not merely failing to lose weight after gastric bypass surgery, but could actually be at risk of gaining weight.

The difficulty we are facing now is not mainly that of finding a solution for those individuals who suffer from obesity, but of preventing obesity to start with and this is very much a matter of education. There is no doubt that a minority of individuals are prone to obesity and genetics and other similar factors might well play a part in this. However, the vast majority of the obesity we see today arises out of little more than bad eating habits and a failure to take sufficient exercise.

However, the true problem is that when people have reached it is simple human nature to look for any cause for their obesity that removes that feeling of guilt brought on by the fact that they may just have caused the problem themselves. Now what better excuse can you hand someone than to tell them that their obesity is genetic.

This is not to say that research into SNPs is not valid or to suggest that there is not a genetic link to either the failure to lose weight or to gain weight following gastric bypass surgery. The danger however lies in publishing this information at too early a stage in the research process and to simply hand individuals yet another excuse for not dealing with their obesity at a time when obesity is at epidemic levels and most worrying of all is increasingly being found in children at earlier and earlier ages.

Research is important and needs to be given its proper place in the overall scheme of things but we have to be careful that it does not sidetrack us from the need to deal with obesity by educating individuals to change their eating habits and to take more exercise.

About the Author:
GastricBypassFacts.info provides information on many aspects of obesity including use of the gastric bypass and popular techniques such as gastric lap band surgery.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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