Are Genetics Simply Another Reason To Explain Morbid Obesity?

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

Of course there are several reasons for this failure to lose weight or to regain weight and top of the list in without a doubt the fact that all too many people simply find it too difficult to make the lifestyle changes needed after surgery and eat themselves back to obesity. However, scientists have now identified a genetic component that may explain some people's failure to lose weight after gastric bypass surgery.

In a study involving over 700 severely obese patients blood samples were taken to test for two single nucleotide polymorphisma (SNPs). In simple terms a SNP is a human DNA sequence, variations in the pattern of which might indicate how people will develop diseases and respond to things like vaccines and drugs. Without looking at the details of this study which are more than a little complicated, the scientists discovered that roughly 20% of the people examined had combination of specific SNPs that indicate that they are at risk of not only failing to lose weight after weight loss surgery, but may in fact be at risk of putting on weight.

The problem we face today is not mainly one of finding an answer for those people who are suffering from obesity, but of preventing obesity to start with and this is essentially a question of education. There is no question that a small number of people are prone to obesity and genetics and other similar factors may well have a part to play in this. However, the vast majority of the obesity which we these days results from little more than bad eating habits and a failure to take enough exercise.

The true problem however is that when people have reached it is human nature to look for any cause for their obesity that takes away that guilty feeling which comes from the fact that they may just have created the problem themselves. Now what better excuse could you hand someone than to say to them that their obesity is genetic.

This is not to suggest that there is no validity in the research into SNPs or to suggest that there is not a genetic link to either the failure to lose weight or to put on weight after weight loss surgery. However, the danger lies in releasing this data too early in the research process and to simply hand people yet another excuse for not doing something about their obesity at a time at which obesity is at epidemic proportions and more importantly is increasingly being seen in children at earlier and earlier ages.

Research is important and has to be given its proper place in the scheme of things but we must be careful that it does not sidetrack us from the need to deal with the problem of obesity by educating people to change their eating habits and take sufficient exercise.

Research has revealed a possible genetic component which could well explain why some patients do not lose weight after gastric bypass surgery. However will this help or merely hinder progress in dealing with the rising problem of morbid obesity?

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

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