What causes obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom.
Why? A major study published this week in PNAS brings surprising clarity to that question. Using objective data about metabolic rates and energy expenditure among more than 4,000 men and women living in dozens of nations across a broad spectrum of socioeconomic conditions, the study quantified how many calories people from different cultures burn most days.
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Yahoo
6 hours ago
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New tool can predict which children are likely to become obese
Scientists have developed a new tool which can predict a child's risk of becoming obese in adulthood. The test could help to identify children and adolescents who would benefit from targeted preventative strategies, like diet and exercise, at a younger age. The new test, which analyses DNA from a blood sample, is thought to be twice as effective at predicting obesity as the previous best test. As well as identifying children at risk of obesity, it can also predict how well obese adults will respond to targeted weight loss programmes. 'What makes the score so powerful is its ability to predict, before the age of five, whether a child is likely to develop obesity in adulthood, well before other risk factors start to shape their weight later in childhood. Intervening at this point can have a huge impact,' said Assistant Professor Roelof Smit from the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the research published in the journal Nature Medicine. Obesity is a major and chronic problem around the world that is only growing. A disease characterized by excessive fat accumulation, people with obesity are also more likely to have numerous health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to become overweight or obese by 2035. A groundbreaking new tool from international researchers aims to predict future obesity during childhood. Tens of millions are affected by the chronic condition around the world (Getty/iStock) In England, almost 65 per cent of adults over the age of 18 are overweight or obese, while around one in eight children aged between two and 10 in England are obese, according to the NHS. In the U.S., some two in five adults and one in five children and adolescents have obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it affects some groups more than others, including non-Hispanic Black adults and adults with less education. Although there are ways of tackling obesity, such as through diet, exercise, surgery and medication, these options are not always available and do not work for everyone. Research for the study involved a collaboration with the consumer genetics and research company 23andMe, and the contributions of more than 600 scientists from 500 institutions globally. Traits such as human height and body mass index were noted and gathered in the data. Subtle variations in our genetics can impact our health, including the likelihood of developing obesity and even our appetite, experts say. Scientists drew on the genetic data of more than five million people – the largest and most diverse genetic dataset ever (Getty/iStock) Thousands of genetic variants have been identified that increase the risk of obesity, influencing appetite. To determine a child's future risk of obesity, the researchers developed a scoring system, known as a 'polygenic risk score.' To score patients, the new system adds the effects of these risk variants up. The researchers said it was able to explain nearly a fifth of a person's variation in body mass index. To create the score, the scientists drew on the genetic data of more than five million people – the largest and most diverse genetic dataset ever. They then tested the new risk score for obesity on datasets of the physical and genetic characteristics of more than 500,000 people. "This new polygenic score is a dramatic improvement in predictive power and a leap forward in the genetic prediction of obesity risk, which brings us much closer to clinically useful genetic testing," said Professor Ruth Loos from CBMR at the University of Copenhagen. It assessed the relationship between a person's genetic risk of obesity and the impact of lifestyle interventions, such as diet and exercise. Scientists found that those with a higher genetic risk of obesity were more responsive to interventions, but they also gained weight quickly once those interventions ended. However, the new test does have its limitations. Despite drawing on the genetics of the global population, it was far better at predicting obesity in people with European ancestry than in people with African ancestry. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
9 hours ago
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New tool can identify children likely to become obese as adults
A tool which can measure a child's risk of becoming obese in later life has been created by scientists. It is hoped that the new resource will one day mean that those at highest risk will get targeted support to prevent them from becoming obese in the first place. The tool, which assesses a person's genetic risk of obesity, works twice as well as any other obesity risk predictor, academics said. As well as identifying children at risk of obesity, it can also predict how well obese adults will respond to targeted weight loss programmes. Academics used detail on genetic variations from more than five million people to create a tool called a polygenic risk score, which analyses people's genetics to work out their risk of developing obesity. The tool could explain 17.6% of variation in body mass index score (BMI) from people in the UK, they found. Researchers, led by academics at the universities of Copenhagen and Bristol, tested whether the risk score was associated with obesity using datasets of the physical and genetic characteristics of more than 500,000 people. This included checking the tool on people taking part in the 'Children of the 90s' study – a long-term study in Bristol tracking families as children age. They found that it could successfully predict weight gain during childhood – from the age of just two and a half – through to adolescence. 'Overall, these data show that polygenic scores have the potential to improve obesity prediction, particularly when implemented early in life,' the authors wrote in the journal, Nature Medicine. Lead author of the research, assistant professor Roelof Smit from the University of Copenhagen, said: 'What makes the score so powerful is the consistency of associations between the genetic score and body mass index before the age of five and through to adulthood – timing that starts well before other risk factors start to shape their weight later in childhood. 'Intervening at this point could theoretically make a huge impact.' He told the PA news agency that BMI is not a good predictor for a child's obesity risk in later life but the genetic predictor can offer insight into the risk from early years. 'Essentially it's fixed at conception already very early in life, you're able to essentially quantify what someone's innate predisposition is for BMI,' he said. 'So, being able to say something about someone's innate biology for obesity risk.' Meanwhile, the research team also looked at people taking part in 'intensive lifestyle intervention' programmes. People with a higher risk score lost more weight, but were also more likely to regain it. Prof Smit added: 'There is a huge amount of variation in how people respond to these interventions. 'What we observed was the higher someone's score was, the more they tended to respond to the intervention – people who had a higher score tended to lose more weight in the first year. 'And we also saw that people who had the higher scores tended to gain more weight.' Dr Kaitlin Wade, associate professor in epidemiology at the University of Bristol and second author on the paper, said: 'Obesity is a major public health issue, with many factors contributing to its development, including genetics, environment, lifestyle and behaviour. 'These factors likely vary across a person's life, and we believe that some of these originate in childhood. 'We were delighted to contribute data from the Children of the 90s study to this exceptional and insightful research into the genetic architecture of obesity. 'We hope this work will contribute to detecting individuals at high risk of developing obesity at an earlier age, which could have a vast clinical and public health impact in the future.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
12 hours ago
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New tool can predict which children are likely to become obese
Scientists have developed a new tool which can predict a child's risk of becoming obese in adulthood. The test could help to identify children and adolescents who would benefit from targeted preventative strategies, like diet and exercise, at a younger age. The new test, which analyses DNA from a blood sample, is thought to be twice as effective at predicting obesity as the previous best test. As well as identifying children at risk of obesity, it can also predict how well obese adults will respond to targeted weight loss programmes. 'What makes the score so powerful is its ability to predict, before the age of five, whether a child is likely to develop obesity in adulthood, well before other risk factors start to shape their weight later in childhood. Intervening at this point can have a huge impact,' said Assistant Professor Roelof Smit from the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the research published in the journal Nature Medicine. Obesity is a major and chronic problem around the world that is only growing. A disease characterized by excessive fat accumulation, people with obesity are also more likely to have numerous health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to become overweight or obese by 2035. A groundbreaking new tool from international researchers aims to predict future obesity during childhood. Tens of millions are affected by the chronic condition around the world (Getty/iStock) In England, almost 65 per cent of adults over the age of 18 are overweight or obese, while around one in eight children aged between two and 10 in England are obese, according to the NHS. In the U.S., some two in five adults and one in five children and adolescents have obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it affects some groups more than others, including non-Hispanic Black adults and adults with less education. Although there are ways of tackling obesity, such as through diet, exercise, surgery and medication, these options are not always available and do not work for everyone. Research for the study involved a collaboration with the consumer genetics and research company 23andMe, and the contributions of more than 600 scientists from 500 institutions globally. Traits such as human height and body mass index were noted and gathered in the data. Subtle variations in our genetics can impact our health, including the likelihood of developing obesity and even our appetite, experts say. Scientists drew on the genetic data of more than five million people – the largest and most diverse genetic dataset ever (Getty/iStock) Thousands of genetic variants have been identified that increase the risk of obesity, influencing appetite. To determine a child's future risk of obesity, the researchers developed a scoring system, known as a 'polygenic risk score.' To score patients, the new system adds the effects of these risk variants up. The researchers said it was able to explain nearly a fifth of a person's variation in body mass index. To create the score, the scientists drew on the genetic data of more than five million people – the largest and most diverse genetic dataset ever. They then tested the new risk score for obesity on datasets of the physical and genetic characteristics of more than 500,000 people. "This new polygenic score is a dramatic improvement in predictive power and a leap forward in the genetic prediction of obesity risk, which brings us much closer to clinically useful genetic testing," said Professor Ruth Loos from CBMR at the University of Copenhagen. It assessed the relationship between a person's genetic risk of obesity and the impact of lifestyle interventions, such as diet and exercise. Scientists found that those with a higher genetic risk of obesity were more responsive to interventions, but they also gained weight quickly once those interventions ended. However, the new test does have its limitations. Despite drawing on the genetics of the global population, it was far better at predicting obesity in people with European ancestry than in people with African ancestry.
