There’ll Be Even Less Space On The 7 Train: Studies Show Some Obesity Inherited, Magnified Over Generations

Rob Waterland, assistant professor of pediatrics at the USDA Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, and a group of his collegues conducted research on obesity and determined that it is “triggered” in the womb during fetal development. They also discovered that not only can some instances of obesity be inherited, they can become amplified from one generation to the next. Well, such is the case for fat baby lab mice, anyway:

“They were actually fatter than their mothers, so we saw a population shift in the distribution of body weight,” Waterland explains. “We saw a shift in this distribution toward heavier and heavier body weight with each generation.”

We’d personally blame the increase in fry sizes, Fievel. Researchers, however, would slap us ‘cross the face with a fat baby mouse and insist the problem be attributed to “epigenetic changes,” which control the manner in which genes are manifested:

“So-called epigenetic mechanisms could be playing an important role in determining your body weight regulation throughout your life,” Waterland says.

It would be incorrect, however, to blame genetics for obesity. Waterland and his crew studies three generation of genetically identical mice, so they were certain that they’re tendency to become fat was not due to changes in their DNA. So the transmission is “non-genetic.” We do not comprehend how this results in it being “non-genetic,” but will unquestioningly take his word for it.

Waterland’s team was also able to eliminate the effect of the transmission from mother mouse to baby mouse by feeding the pregnant mom a special dietary supplement that contributed certain chemical “tags” to specific areas of DNA that regulate genes. (<--See? Genes. How is it non-genetic? We don't get that.) One of the supplements given was folic acid, which pregnant lady-humans are already advised to take. Waterland cautions, however, that his findings might not yet be applicable to humans:

“The supplement we gave included other ingredients in addition to folic acid, so we don’t know whether it might be these other ingredients that are playing the key role. And also, we fundamentally don’t know whether these findings in a mouse model can be directly translated to humans,” he says.

He does, however, suggest that obese women thinking of becoming pregnant try to get down to a healthy weight for their own safety and their babies.’ But if you’re genetically (non-genetically?) predisposed to overeat and gain weight, we could see how losing that weight might be a huge obstacle. Which is sad because if restaurants move their tables any further from booths to accommodate larger people, we’re going to have to literally sit on the table to eat.

Inherited Obesity is Amplified Across Generations [Science Central]