With increased awareness on the
health issues associated with being overweight, more and more people are taking
it upon themselves to be healthy and fit and one of the popular ways to do that
is by exercising.
However, for some, in spite of exercising they don’t seem to
lose any weight. Interestingly, while others may do the same exercise routine
and get results, some people do this same routine without any results.
Scientists have recently discovered why this happens in women.
In a recent study published in the
April 2015 edition of the International Journal of Obesity, it was discovered
that genes are part of the reasons. The study which centred on women showed
that women who had certain genetic markers gained weight after following a
strength-training regimen for a year, whereas women who didn’t have those
markers lost weight after following the same regimen. The researchers looked at
genes that have been linked in previous studies with an increased risk of
obesity. The findings may mean that women whose genes predispose them to
obesity need to do more exercise to get their desired weight-loss results, and
may also need to pay more attention to their diet, the study author Yann C. Klimentidis,
an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of
Arizona in Tucson, United States of America, said.
In the study, the researchers
examined DNA samples from 84 women whose ages were between 30 and 65, focusing
on genes linked with obesity. The investigators asked all the women to engage
in high-intensity resistance exercise and moderate-impact exercise with weights
for at least one hour, three days a week, for a year. To analyse the effects
the exercise had on the women, the researchers grouped them based on their
genetic risk of obesity.
The researchers found that exercise
had a greater effect on both weight loss and body fat in the women whose
genetic risk of obesity was lower, compared with the women whose genetic risk was
higher.
For example, women whose genes put
them at a high risk of obesity gained an average of 2.6 lbs. (1.2 kilograms)
during the study period, whereas women whose genes put them at a low risk of
obesity lost 2.9 lbs. (1.3 kg), on average.
In addition, the researchers found
that women whose genes put them at a high risk of obesity maintained the same
percentage of body fat over the study period, whereas women whose genes put
them at a low risk of obesity lost 2.7 per cent of their body fat, on average.
The study shows that “the benefit
that one might get from exercise is going to depend on their level of the
genetic risk of obesity,” Klimentidis said.
The body mass indexes (BMIs) of the
women at the beginning of the study ranged from 19 (normal) to 33 (obese). The
women were told not to change their diets for the duration of the study.
It is not clear how genes associated
with BMI may affect the impact of exercise on weight and body composition, the
researchers said. One possibility is that these genes may interact with
exercise through physiological mechanisms such as satiety, taste and regulation
of energy expenditure.
But it’s also possible that people
who have a low genetic risk for obesity may also respond differently to doing
more exercise, in terms of how much they eat and how much energy they expend,
compared with those with a high risk, according to the study.
Source: tribuneonlineng
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