A study published in the International Journal of Obesity says childhood body weight is strongly influenced by genes.
The additive effects of multiple genes across the genome account for 30 percent of individual difference in childhood body weight. Thirty-two genes have been identified as risk factors for obesity.
Dr Clare Llewellyn from University College London Health Behaviour Research Centre and lead author of the study, said, "These findings are important because they confirm that in children genes play a very important role in determining body weight. At present only a few genetic variants have been discovered, and these explain a very small amount of individual differences in body weight (around 2%). These findings suggest there are hundreds of other genetic variants influencing body weight that are yet to be discovered."
In order to investigate the molecular weight in children, the researchers used a latest method called 'Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis' (GCTA). The study is based on data sample from 2,269 children aged between eight and 11 years.
ScienceDaily.com reported that GCTA takes advantage of the fact that some people are more genetically similar to each other. This study also found that over weight children shared a similarity of genes which may be responsible for their obesity. Using this approach, GCTA estimates the combined effects of all known common genes across the whole genome, associated with childhood body weight.
This study highlights the importance of genetic effects in childhood obesity, supporting the current thinking that children of obese parents are most at risk of becoming obese, stated ScienceDaily.com citing the study.
