FTO Gene Negated By Healthy Diet

whether they had the FTO gene was irrelevant...

No more excuses! That is the gist of the new research released by the University of Bristol and University College London who have shown that by sticking to a low energy density diet you can negate the negative influence of the much reported FTO gene. The research which was based on information put together by Bristol University in a previous data collection study showed that by eating a low energy density diet men and women could avoid obesity completely and that would even be the case if they carried the FTO genes that everybody has been talking about recently.

Dr Laura Johnson from the UCL Department of Epidemiology and Public Health explained that if children got their calories from a low energy density diet, (basically by eating fruit, vegetables and having less calories per mouthful), whether they had the FTO gene was irrelevant and played no part in increasing their likelihood of obesity.

This research is important because it shows that the risk of obesity from the FTO gene only comes if parents feed their children high energy density foods such as chocolates, biscuits and a high fat processed food stuffs.

Parents should take note of this finding and try to change the foods that their children eat. They should not be too concerned about limiting the quantity of food, (this is always very difficult as no parent likes to limit their children’s food intake), but should make a concerted effort to give their children a lot of low energy density food.

Parents should also note that the sooner that they get healthy eating habits into their children the more likely they will stick with them for the rest of their lives.