Posted May 30, 2010
Hamburg (dpa) – While people who are genetically predisposed to being overweight are more likely to build up fat mass, they are not “genetically condemned” to be fat, according to Anika Brieske, a home economist at the German University of Applied Sciences for Prevention and Health Management.
“Rather, anyone can counteract (the genetic predisposition) with diet and exercise as far as he or she is able,” she said.
Diet in particular plays an important role. “If we eat more than our body requires, we gain weight. Conversely, we lose weight if we burn more calories than we consume,” Brieske noted.
Someone who eats high-fat or high-calorie foods like pizza, chips or chocolate and washes them down with a sugary soft drink is consuming a lot of unnecessary calories that the body stores as fat.
“Exercise can offset the intake of excess calories,” Brieske remarked, citing studies showing that every hour of daily television viewing can increase the relative risk of becoming overweight by up to 12 per cent.