Does Heredity Influence the Distribution of Fat?

Posted on April 12, 2008 in Latest News

Yes, researchers are of the opinion that ancestry has a powerful hand in shaping your body. Experts further go onto explain that heredity has a 20-70% influence on the body weight and on the distribution of fat in a person.

Overweight people have been classified under 2 categories – APPLES and PEARS.

“Apples” mainly constitute the men who have distinct beer bellies to their name. Men or Apples tend to carry more weight in the upper parts of the body, that is, the torso and around the abdomen.

“Pears” mainly constitute women. Genes affect women so hard that large chunks begin to accumulate around the waist, hips, thighs and buttocks. Though women have been long lamenting over the fat that has stuck so hard on them, medically peers are considered to be far safer than apples.

Apples fall into the danger zone when their waists become larger than their hips. Apples are thereby assumed to be more vulnerable to major health risks like diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases. On the other hand, peers fall into the danger zone when their waist size is 85% of their hip size.

How Do Genes Affect Your Body Weight?
Genes can affect your body weight by imposing an effect on the following:

How calories are being used in your body, that is, the energy metabolism
The amount of energy or fat you burn while at rest, that is, the basal metabolic rate (BMR)
Signals that tell you how much you should eat like fullness or satiety, appetite and your hunger
Stretching beyond your set point, that is, the specific range of body weight which your body is tries to maintain. Genetic makeup is said to influence that range or set point. However, you actual weight within the range is said to be influenced by your lifestyle and environmental needs.
Aging affects the body fat or weight of a person drastically. Researchers opine that with age, the lean muscles are replaced with body fat. Men, as mentioned above, tend to gain weight at their abdomen while women tend to gain weight in their thighs, hips and buttocks.

Though you could do nothing much about changing your genetic makeup to lose weight, you could prioritize your environmental and lifestyle needs to eat healthy and stay as active as possible.

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Does Heredity Influence the Distribution of Fat?

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