Research shows how physical exercises help obese people lose weight
Obesity is a global health problem that is closely linked to many metabolic disorders. Regular physical exercise has been found to reduce the genetic predisposition to obesity. However, it is still not clear what kinds of exercise can modify the genetic risk of obesity.
According to a recent research study published online by PLOS Genetics journal (open-access), August 2019, it states that even if obesity runs in your family, there are certain activities that play an integral part in helping you to lose the weight and maintain it as well.
For this study, researchers hired 18,424 unrelated Han Chinese adults aged 30–70 years who participated in the Taiwan Biobank (TWB). The gene-exercise interactions were investigated on the five obesity measures: body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BFP), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Furthermore, the researchers examine the adults individual genes via metric genetic risk scores (GSRs) and exercise routines. Also, the participants signed informed consent, provided blood samples and further set of information via a face-to-face interview and physical examination for creating genetic profiles.
The researchers have defined a regular exercise as engaging in 30 minutes of “exercise” three times a week. “Exercise” included only leisure-time activities such as jogging, yoga, mountain climbing, cycling, swimming, dance dance revolution (DDR, a computer game based on dancing with music videos), playing basketball, etc.
The researchers observe that after evaluation that performing regular exercise was found to reduce the genetic effects on four obesity measures, including BMI, body fat percentage (BFP), waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC). Furthermore, among the 18 kinds of self-reported regular exercise, 6 mitigated the genetic effects on at least one obesity measure. It is found that regular jogging blunted the genetic effects on BMI, BFP, and HC. Whereas, exercise routines such as Mountain climbing, walking, exercise walking, international standard dancing, and a longer practice of yoga sessions also attenuated the genetic effects on BMI.
The researchers also found that exercises such as cycling, stretching exercise, swimming, and dance dance revolution were not found to modify the genetic effects on any obesity measure. But, importantly, across all 5 obesity measures, regular jogging consistently presented the most significant interactions with genetic risk scores (GSRs). The findings highlight that the genetic effects on obesity measures can be tackled and decreased to various level by performing different kinds of exercise. By incorporating outdoor high-intensity exercises may help people in managing their weights and it is clear that the benefits of regular physical exercise are more impactful in subjects who are more susceptible to obesity.
Reference:
- Lin WY, Chan CC, Liu YL, Yang AC, Tsai SJ, Kuo PH. Performing different kinds of physical exercise differentially attenuates the genetic effects on obesity measures: Evidence from 18,424 Taiwan Biobank participants. PLoS Genet. 2019 Aug 1;15(8):e1008277. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1008277. PMID: 31369549; PMCID: PMC6675047.