New Insight Into The FTO Gene And Obesity Risk Made Possible By FitnessGenes Customers

Advertisement

FitnessGenes Ltd. is a DNA-testing company offering fitness and nutrition guidance. With an in-mail spit collection DNA kit and in-house analysis of 41 gene variations, that reveal specific personal traits including metabolic tendencies, dietary sensitivities, fat burning capacity, muscle type, recovery time and more. FitnessGenes then provides personalized, weekly exercise programs and nutritional guides based on a customers profile [1].

In an ideal healthcare scenario disease could be prevented before it occurred. According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013–2014, more than 25% of Americans were considered to have obesity, furthermore approximately 7% were considered to be extremely obese [2]. Given that being overweight and obese predisposes to serious disease conditions such as diabetes it would be ideal to reduce these figures. Encouraging proactive approaches to health could be of benefit.

The condition of obesity is thought to have an etiology combining lifestyle, environmental and genetic predisposing factors. The fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) was the first identified to have common variants by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that influence the risk of obesity [3]. In a large study the FTO-rs9939609 variant was associated with higher dietary protein intake [4]. A recent study made possible by FitnessGenes customers has shown that being physically active attenuates the risk of obesity-related traits associated with FTO risk alleles [5].

Featured Partners

Sources

1. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180306005585/en
2. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity
3. Frayling TM et al. A common variant in the FTO gene is associated with body mass index and predisposes to childhood and adult obesity. Science. 2007 316:889-94. PubMed PMID: 17434869
4. Qi Q, et al. FTO genetic variants, dietary intake and body mass index: insights from 177,330 individuals. Hum Mol Genet. 2014 23(25):6961-72. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddu411. PubMed PMID: 25104851
5. Nathan R. West, James Dorling, Alice E. Thackray, et al., “Effect of Obesity-Linked FTO rs9939609 Variant on Physical Activity and Dietary Patterns in Physically Active Men and Women,” Journal of Obesity, vol. 2018, Article ID 7560707, 8 pages, 2018. doi:10.1155/2018/7560707